1G7! 
,i4 


-f 


UC-NRLF 

!<llil|iiHllllli!i^illl" 


ELEY  UiiKAKy 


B    3    b2b    fi23 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


THE  CASE 


PUERTO  RICO 


J.  J.  Henna, 
M.  Zeno  Gandia, 
Commissioners  from  Puerto  Rico. 


JUNE,     1899 


WASHINGTON,    D.  C. 

PRESS   OF   W.    F.    ROBERTS 

1899 


THE  CASE 


OF 


PUERTO  RICO 


Jc.^    0--C      j_  j_   Henna,      ^  ^ -^^ 

M.  Zeno  Gandia, 
Coynmissioners  from  Puerto  Rico. 


JUNE.     1899 


WASHINGTON,    D.  C, 

PRESS   OF    VV.    F.    ROBERTS 

1899 


"^J'^^^T?^ 


LIST    OF   CONTENTS. 


LfnW^ollV  o»  CalifomU 
WITHWIAWN 

BArrcreoFT 
LiERARY 


r  / 

H7' 


lutroductory     ......... 

Communication   of  the  Puerto   Rican   Commissioners  to 

President  McKinley — Januarj'  20,  1899 
Communication   of  the   Puerto   Rican   Commissioners  to 

President  McKinley — April  19,  1899 
Communication  of  the   Puerto  Rican   Commissiojiers  to 

President  McKinley— May  5,  1899 
Communication   of  the   Puerto   Rican   Commissioners  to 

President  McKinley — ^June  15,  1899 
Explanatory  Notes: 


No. 
No. 
No. 
No. 


No. 
No. 


No.  7 
No.  8 
No.  9 
No.  10 
No.  II 


On  the  Name  of  Puerto  Rico 

On  the  Authority  of  the  Commissioners 

On  Military  Rule  as  shown  in  Puerto  Rico  . 

On  the  Militia — Letter  to  Mr.  Alger,  Secre- 
tary of  War,  written  at  his  request,  Feb- 
ruary 10,  1899  

Monetary  Problem       ..... 

On  Banks  and  Banking — Letter  to  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury,  February  10,  1899 

On  Taxation  and  Public  Instruction    . 

The  Puerto  Rican  Tariff     .... 

On  the  Organization  of  the  Advisory  Council 

On  the  Archives  ..... 

On  the  Powers  of  the  President 


Final  Remark 


14 

19 

29 

32 
34 

37 


39 

45 
48 

5- 
67 
68 

74 
78 


117 


INTRODUCTORY. 


Puerto  Rico  finds  itself  at  this  iiionieiit  in  an  extraordinary 
situation. 

The  island  is  dc  facto  hy  virtue  of  actual  occupation,  and  de 
jure  by  virtue  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace  between  the  United  States 
and  Spain  concluded  at  Paris  on  December  loth,  1898,  an  in- 
tegral part  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
And,  nevertheless,  neither  its  soil,  nor  its  ports,  its  commerce, 
its  inhabitants,  are  for  any  i)ractical  purpose  considered  Amer- 
ican. The  flag  of  the  United  States  of  America  floats  over  the 
soil  of  Puerto  Rico,  but  it  does  not  make  American  even  the 
children  who  are  born  under  its  shade.  Ships  coming  from 
the  ports  of  any  continental  portion  of  the  United  States  of 
America  and  entering  a  port  of  Puerto  Rico  do  not  enter  an 
American  but  a  foreign  port,  and  are  subject  to  pay  custom 
duties,  tonnage  dues,  etc.  The  commerce  of  Puerto  Rico  with 
the  rest  of  the  United  States  of  America  instead  of  being  free 
as  the  commerce  between  Massachusetts  and  Florida,  or  New 
York  and  Louisiana,  is  burdened  by  a  Tariff,  heavier  and  more 
obnoxious  than  that  which  was  in  force  when  Puerto  Rico  was 
Spanish,  and  its  c(jnunerce  was  subject  to  the  rcciprocit}'  ar- 
rangements, which,  under  the  inspiration  of  Mr.  Blaine,  were 
concluded  in  1S90  between  the  United  States  and  Spain.  And 
although  Puerto  Rico  is  American,  and  its  goverment  is  vested 
in  American  officials,  and  all  there  is  American,  from  the 
governor-general  to  the  health  ofiicer  of  the  humblest  port  of 
the  island,  no  protection  is  given  to  any  Puerto  Rican  cxceitt 
upon  condition  that  it  be  carefully  expressed  that  he  is  pro- 
tected as  a  native  of  Puerto  Rico  but  not  as  an  American. 

Of  liberty  and  self-government  the  Puerto  Rican  people  have 
not  had  as  yet  any  taste.     They  are  subject  in  all  things  to  the 


supreme  will  of  a  military  governor,  subject  to  no  one  else, 
though  in  time  of  peace,  than  the  Commander-in-chief  of  the 
Army  of  the  United  States,  through  exclusively  the  channels 
of  the  War  Department. 

Between  General  Macias  and  General  Henry  no  diflference 
has  been  shown  so  far,  than  that  the  latter  speaks  a  language 
which  the  Puerto  Ricans  do  not  understand,  and  that  the  former 
never  ordered  any  graves  to  be  dug  to  be  filled  with  Puerto 
Rican  corpses,  when  trouble  was  anticipated. 

If  the  war  which  the  United  States  of  America  waged  against 
Spain  for  purely  humanitarian  purposes,  freed  Puerto  Rico,  as 
it  is  said,  the  Puerto  Rican  people  do  not  know  as  yet  of  what 
that  freedom  consists.  They  are  treated  as  an  inferior,  de- 
pendent people,  needing  to  be  educated  and  christianized  and 
civilized — and  in  the  procession  of  the  Peace  Jubilee  celebrated 
with  great  pomp  at  Washington,  which  the  President  reviewed 
surrounded  by  his  Cabinet  and  the  diplomatic  body  and  the 
elite  of  the  Washington  societ}',  no  other  symbol  was  made  to 
appear  to  represent  Puerto  Rico  and  Puerto  Rican  civiliza- 
tion than  a  dilapidated  little  negro  boy  poorly  riding  on  the 
back  of  a  not  less  dilapidated  little  pony,  with  the  announce- 
ment, which  excited  the  joyous  shouts  of  the  multitude,  of 
"  Puerto  Rican  Express." 

This  is  the  recognition  which  Puerto  Rico  has  secured  for 
having  opened  its  arms  and  offered  no  resistance  to  the  Amer- 
ican invaders! 

If  Puerto  Rico  is  not  now  a  jewel  belonging  to  the  Crown  of 
Spain,  as  it  was  often  said  during  four  centuries,  the  satisfac- 
tion to  be  derived  from  this  fact  is  nothing  but  theoretical. 

Puerto  Rico  can  now  sa)'^  with  Tacitus  that  it  is  rather 
without  a  master  than  in  the  enjoyment  of  libertj^ — magis  sine 
donmio  quam  in  libertate. 

It  may  also  repeat  with  the  Prophet  of  the  lyamentations: 
"Our  inheritance  is  turned  to  aliens,  our  homes  to  strangers; 
we  are  become  orphans  without  a  father.     *     *     '•=     We  have 


given  our  hand  to  Egypt  and  to  the  Assyrians  that  we  miglit 
be  satisfied  with  bread!" 

The  spectacle  of  a  purely  military  government  under  the 
flag  of  the  United  vStatcs  of  America  does  seem  very  strange. 
And  nevertheless  it  has  been  given  for  about  nine  months,  and 
no  prospect  of  relief  seems  to  be  in  sight. 

History  has  repeated  itself,  and  if  it  was  always  said  with  rea- 
son that  the  Spanish  Viceroys  and  Captains-General  in  America 
were  all-powerful  for  the  evil  and  powerless  for  the  good,  the 
very  same  thing  can  be  said  of  Puerto  Rico  under  the  military 
control  of  the  freest  country  in  the  world. 

This  attitude  of  the  American  Government  with  regard  to 
Puerto  Rico  and  the  Puerto  Rican  people,  if  compared  with  the 
one  it  has  taken  with  regard  to  the  Philippine  Islands  and  their 
people,  shows  a  lack  of  consideration  and  justice  thoroughly 
unexpected  and  unpardonable.  The  Filipinos  are  in  arms 
against  the  United  States;  they  are  ignoring  the  cession  which 
Spain  made  of  their  country  in  favor  of  the  United  States; 
they  are  resisting,  luiguibus  et  de7itibus,  to  the  best  of  their 
power  and  ability,  the  authority  of  the  United  States;  and 
nevertheless  they  are  offered  by  the  United  States  a  civil  gov- 
ernment and  many  other  things  which  when  asked  by  the 
Puerto  Ricans  find  no  response,  or  are  met  with  the  frivolous, 
groundless,  answer  that  the  President  has  no  power  to  grant 
them ;  and  the  spectacle  is  thus  given  that  there  are  two  stand- 
ards of  weight  and  measures,  one  to  be  used  with  the  Filipinos 
and  another  with  the  Puerto  Ricans. 

If  a  civil  governor  general  and  an  advisory  council,  and 
many  other  things  can  be  given  the  Filipinos,  rightfully,  why 
is  it  that  the  same  thing  cannot  be  rightfully  given  the  Puerto 
Ricans? 

Since  when  has  it  been  the  rule  in  this  country,  the  best  Re- 
public in  the  world,  that  in  order  to  obtain  justice  violence  and 
bloodshed  are  first  to  be  resorted  to? 

The  condition  of  things  in  Puerto  Rico  when  the  Govern- 


meut  of  the  United  States  of  America  decided  to  go  to  war 
with  Spain,  to  enforce  the  mandate  of  Congress  that  Spain 
should  reHnquish  at  once  her  sovereignty  over  Cuba,  was  by- 
far  different  from  the  condition  of  things  which  then  prevailed 
in  the  latter  island. 

Puerto  Rico  had  never  been  afflicted  as  Cuba  by  war  or  revo- 
lution. Mr.  Cushing,  United  States  minister  at  Madrid,  could 
say  with  reason  to  Mr.  Fish,  Secretary  of  State,  on  March  i, 
1876,  "  Puerto  Rico  is  a  contented  possession  of  Spain,  having 
received  concessions  withheld  from  Cuba,  which  had  been  the 
scene  of  war  for  seven  years."  (Ex.  Doc,  Senate  No.  166, 
Fifty-fourth  Congress,  first  session,  attached  to  Senate  Report 
No.  885,  Fifty-fifth  Congress,  second  session,  page  105.)  Sub- 
sequent to  Mr.  Cushing's  statement  Puerto  Rico  continued  in 
peace  and  its  wealth  and  prosperity,  specially  in  the  time  in 
which  the  reciprocity  arrangements  initiated  and  carried  on 
by  Mr.  Blaine  were  in  force,  became  phenomenal. 

Puerto  Rico  was  not  by  any  means  a  proper  subject  for 
American  intervention.  If  war  was  carried  to  its  territory  by 
the  United  States,  it  was  because  Puerto  Rico  was  Spanish  ter- 
ritory, and  because  it  was  said  that  for  military  reasons  hos- 
tilities were  necessary  both  in  the  Greater  and  the  Lesser  An- 
tilles. And  if  Puerto  Rico  was  ceded  by  Spain  to  the  United 
vStates,  not  entirel}'  without  protest  bj'  Spain,  it  was  only  be- 
cause President  McKinley  "desirous  of  exhibiting  signal  gen- 
erosity to  Spain.''  relieved  her  from  paying  any  war  indemnity 
to  the  United  States,  but  demanded  in  exchange  the  cession. 
(Mr.  Day  to  Duke  of  Almodovar  del  Rio,  July  30,  1898.) 

Through  that  act  of  signal  generosity  of  President  McKinley, 
resembling  that  of  Eneas  when  killing  young  Lausus,  Puerto 
Rico  became  an  American  possession. 

The  voice  of  Puerto  Rico  was  not  heard.  The  idea  that  the 
Puerto  Rican  people  might  have  something  to  say  on  the 
subject,  or  that  a  bargain  of  this  kind,  no  matter  how  gen- 
erous on  the  part  of  one  belligerent,  might  need  at  least  pro 


forma  the  consent  of  the  Puerto  Rican  people,  was  not  even 
thought  of. 

The  island  and  its  people  were  conveyed  from  one  sovereign 
to  another  as  a  farm  and  its  cattle  are  convc3-ed  from  a  master 
to  another. 

When  France  was  forced  to  cede  i\lsace  and  Lorraine  to 
Germany,  without  consulting  their  people,  the  potent  voice  of 
Charles  Sumner  was  heard  in  protest.  lie  delivered  in 
Boston  his  famous  lecture,  called  by  him  "The  Duel  Between 
France  and  Germany."     And  then  he  said: 

"  France  cannot  sell  or  transfer  them  (x\lsace  and  Lorraine) 
against  their  consent.  Count  the  great  masters  and  you  will 
find  their  concurrent  authority.  Grotius,  from  whom  on  such 
a  question  there  can  be  no  appeal,  adjudges:  '  In  the  alienation 
of  part  of  a  sovereignty  it  is  required  that  the  part  to  be  alien- 
ated consent  to  the  act.'  Of  the  same  opinion  is  Puffendorff, 
declaring:  '^'  '■>  *  •  to  make  such  a  conveyance  valid  the  consent 
of  the  people  is  required.'  Vattel  crowns  this  testimony  when 
he  adds  that  a  province  '  abandoned  and  dismembered  is  not 
obliged  to  receive  the  new  master  attempted  to  be  given  it. 
:i^  :i:  ^;  Before  such  texts,  stronger  than  a  fortress,  the  sol- 
diers of  Germany  must  halt." 

Take  from  there  the  words  Alsace  and  Lorraine  and  Ger- 
many and  replace  them  by  Puerto  Rico  and  the  United  States, 
and  the  case  of  Puerto  Rico  is  made  by  perhaps  the  highest 
figure  as  a  scholar,  as  a  statesman,  and  as  a  patriot  in  the 
Republican  party  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

This  pamphlet  is  intended  not  to  make  opposition  to  the 
Government,  but  to  aid  it  in  doing  ju.stice  to  Puerto  Rico.  It 
has  for  its  object  to  formulate  in  a  precise  manner  the  aspira- 
tions of  Puerto  Rico.  It  has  been  prepared  to  show  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States  of  America  and  of  the  whole  world 
that  the  Puerto  Rican  people  do  not  submit  in  silence  to  be 
treated  as  slaves  or  as  dependent  beings  little  less  than  savages, 
needing  protection  from  outside  and  entitled  to  nothing  else 
than  guardianship  by  the  sword. 


10 

The  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  of  the  United 
States  said  on  July  4,  1776,  that  they  held  "these  truths  to 
be  self-evident,  that  all  men  are  created  equal;  that  they  are 
endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights;  that 
among  them  are  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness;" 
and.  they  added  that  "  to  secure  these  rights  governments  are 
instituted,"  and  that  these  governments  onlj'  derive  "their 
just  powers  FROM  the  consent  of  the  governed." 

The  Puerto  Rican  people,  in  asking  from  the  people  to  whom 
they  have  been  aggregated  that  the  principles  of  the  first  enact- 
ment to  be  found  in  their  statute  books  be  applied  to  them,  are 
not  looking  fo^r  favors.     They  are  demanding  justice. 

June,  1899. 


THE   PUERTO   RICAN  COMMISSIONERS 

TO 

PRESIDENT  McKINLEY. 


FIRST  LETTER. 


To  His  Excellency  William  McKinley, 

President  of  the  United  States, 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Mr.  President: 

We  have  the  honor  to  appear  before  Your  Excellenc)'  as 
bearers  of  a  message  of  greeting  from  the  people  of  Puerto  Rico, 
and  also  as  their  spokesmen  on  a  subject  of  great  moment  and 
solicitude  on  which  their  future  welfare  and  happiness  depends. 
But  before  broaching  the  question  we  beg  leave  to  recall  a 
chapter  in  the  history  of  this  unparalleled  war  of  redemption, 
which  we  understand  was  undertaken  in  the  name  of  humanity 
and  for  humanity's  sake.  We  refer  to  the  hearty  reception, 
moral  support  and  efficient  aid,  tendered  the  United  States 
Army  of  invasion  by  our  people. 

The  pioneers  of  the  invading  forces  had  scarcely  landed  on 
our  shores  when  they  became  aware  of  and  extremely  impressed 
by  the  heartfelt  welcome  of  the  Puerto  Rican  people.  The 
meaning  of  this  was  not  simply  ephemeral  enthusiasm;  it 
meant  that  Your  Excellency's  preanuounced  design  had  al- 
ready been  imparted  to  us.  And  because  it  conveyed  the  as- 
surance that  no  other  object  but  the  one  announced  and  which 
was  subsequently  reasserted  by  General  Miles  in  his  proclama- 
tion on  entering  the  City  of  Ponce,  i.  c,  "our  redemption  from 
the  tyrannical  misrule  of  Spain,"  did  we  secretly  decide  and 
agree  to  lay  aside  whatever  plans  might  have  been  prepared 
against  our  oppressors  and  to  rally  instead  under  the  standard 
of  our  redeemers.  We  contributed  by  every  means  at  our 
command  to  further  the  immediate  expulsion  of  the  tyrant 
from  our  land,  our  people  in  many  instances  joining  the  regi- 
mental ranks  in  various  capacities.  To  this  general  rally  of 
our  compatriots,  the  complete  isolation  of  the  Spanish  soldiery, 


12 

the  quick  and  successive  victories  of  the  American  Army  and 
the  avoidance  of  unnecessary  bloodshed  were  due  in  a  large 
measure. 

The  raising  of  the  American  flag  over  the  Government 
Palace  in  San  Juan  on  October  iSth,  1S98,  proclaimed  to  the 
world  that  the  crusade  had  fulfilled  its  purpose  ;  that  the  en- 
slaved people  had  been  liberated  and  raised  to  the  category  of 
freedom  ;  that  we  stood  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  American 
people  as  fellowmen  and  brethren ;  and  that  the  soldiery  rested 
on  their  weapons  and  held  out  the  olive  branch  of  Peace,  their 
hoi}'  mission  having  there  and  then  terminated.  Spain  was 
thus  vanquished,  and  Puerto  Rico  redeemed  from  her  oppres- 
sors, in  the  name  of  humanity  and  for  humanity's  sake. 

Pending  the  decision  of  Congress  as  to  the  ultimate  form  of 
government  which  will  be  applied  to  our  Island,  a  question  on 
which  our  people  expect  to  be  consulted,  we  come  to  lay  be- 
fore Your  Excellency  a  plan  of  reforms  which  has  become  of 
such  imperative  necessity  as  to  require  its  immediate  estab- 
lishment. If  these  reforms  are  not  promptly  established  we 
are  prone  to  fall  into  irretrievable  ruin. 

We  ask  for : 

ist.   The  appointment  of  a  Civil  Secretary. 

2ud.  An  elective  Council  of  fourteen  members  rep- 
resenting the  Island:  two  for  each  of  the 
different  departments,  with  power  to  legis- 
late on  insular  affairs  and  with  fiscal  action 
on  the  general  administration,  subject  to 
the  suspensive  veto  of  the  Governor-Gen- 
eral ;  thus  doing  away  with  the  so-called 
Council  of  Secretaries. 

3rd.  Absolute  Autonomy  of  the  Municipal  bodies, 
with  no  other  limitations  than  those  legal 
ones  imposed  by  the  Courts  of  Justice. 

4th.  Application  to  the  Island  of  the  law  of  personal 
and  civil  rights  as  contained  in  paragraphs 
2  to  7  in  section  9,  Article  ist  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States. 

5th.  Application  to  the  Island  of  the  Amendments 
I  to  10  of  the  same  Constittition. 

6th.   Free  trade  with  the  United  States, 

7th.  Reduction  of  the  military  garrison  by  one-half 
and  the  admission  in  its  ranks  of  native 
volunteers. 

8th.  Establishment  of  a  Postal-Telegraph  system. 


•3 

9th.   Kstablishiiient  of  Postal  Savings  Banks. 

loth.  Two  cent  postage  with  the  United  States. 

nth.  Immediate  redemption  of  the  currency  at  such 
a  rate  as  will  best  accord  with  the  just  and 
fair  interests  of  both  countries. 

1 2th.  The  extension  to  the  Island  of  the  Federal 
Banking  laws. 

13th.   Tlie  extension  of  the  Copyright  law. 

i4tli.  The  establishment  and  adjustment  of  the  cen- 
sus of  assessed  property. 

r5th.  The  establishment  in  the  Island  of  a  depository 
for  Public  Records,  wherein  all  the  historical 
documents  at  present  scattered  throughout 
the  Island,  pertaining  to  the  discovery  and 
colonization  of  Puerto  Rico,  as  well  as  copies 
and  original  records  of  the  Spanish  archives 
relating  to  the  Island,  which  according  to 
article  8  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace  Spain  is  to 
deliver  unto  the  United  States,  may  be  pre- 
served. 

Respectfully  submitted  by  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners. 
EuGExio  M.  HosTos.     J.  Julio  Henna.     M.  Zeno  Gaxdia. 

Washington,  D.  C, 

Euero  20,  iSqg. 


THE  PUERTO  RICAN  COMMISSIONERS 

TO 

PRESIDENT  McKINLEY. 


SECOND  I.KTTER. 


To  His  Excellency  William  McKinley, 

President  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Sir: 

The  undersigned,  natives  of  the  Island  of  Puerto  Rico,  who 
as  Commissioners  for  the  people  of  that  Island,  formerly  have 
had  the  honor  to  call  your  attention  to  certain  needs  of  that 
people,  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity  afforded  to  them  by 
your  proclamation  of  the  nth  instant,  and  come  again  before 
you,  both  to  offer  to  you  personally  and  to  the  noble  people 
over  whom  you  preside,  their  earnest  and  most  sincere  congrat- 
ulations for  the  re-establishment  of  the  state  of  peace  between 
this  country  and  Spain,  and  to  acquaint  you  with  certain  views 
and  wishes  of  the  people  to  whom  they  belong  and  whom  they 
have  the  honor  to  represent,  which  under  the  present  circum- 
stances are  thought  to  require  favorable  and  immediate  con- 
sideration. 

Under  the  provisions  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace,  which  you  have 
just  proclaimed  and  has  thereby  become  the  supreme  law  of 
the  land,  the  Island  of  Puerto  Rico,  which  has  an  area  of  about 
three  thousand  five  hundred  square  miles,  and  a  population  of 
nearly  one  million  inhabitants,  has  been  added  to  the  national 
domain  of  the  United  States.  This  addition  has  been  made,  as 
if  it  were  a  mere  conveyance  of  real  estate,  without  consulting 
in  the  least  the  wishes  of  the  people  of  the  Island,  and  contrary 
to  all  precedents,  without  providing  either  for  the  "political 
status''  of  the  same  inhabitants,  the  determination  of  which  is 
left  to  the  good  will  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  of 
America;  and  the  cession  by  Spain  to  the  United  States  of 
America  of  her  sovereign  rights,  whether  forfeited  or  not,  over 


15 

the  laud  and  the  people  of  Puerto  Pico,  is  for  the  moment  prac- 
tically consuuiniated. 

Under  such  circumstances,  neither  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  nor  the  American  people,  may  ever  object  to  the  Puerto 
Rican  people,  a  noble,  manly,  highly  educated  people  of  the 
Caucasian  race,  feeling  apprehensive  about  the  situation  in 
which  they  have  been  left  by  the  Treaty,  and  hastening  to  come 
before  you  in  search  of  that  relief  to  which  under  all  considera- 
tions of  justice  they  are  certainly  entitled. 

Prior  to  the  proclamation  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace  and  the  final 
acceptance  by  the  United  States  of  America  of  the  conveyance 
made  to  them  by  Spain,  no  action,  however  just  in  principle  or 
intrinsically  meritorious,  could  have  properly  escaped  from 
being  called  premature.  The  military  occupation  of  Puerto  Rico 
by  the  United  States  of  America  was  an  act  of  war,  and  as  such 
belonging  to  a  sphere  where  considerations  of  law  or  reason  are 
left  in  the  background.  Inter  arma  silent  leges.  But  now 
that  the  condition  of  war  has  ceased,  and  that  a  perfect  state 
of  peace  exists  in  Puerto  Rico,  de  jure  as  well  as  de  facto,  the 
moment  has  arrived  for  the  Puerto  Rican  people  to  give  ex- 
pression to  their  wishes. 

If  there  was  any  reason,  no  matter  how  strange  or  unac- 
countable, not  to  embrace  Puerto  Rico  in  the  declaration  made 
by  Congress  in  section  first  of  the  Act  approved  by  you  on 
April  20,  1898,  that  the  people  of  Cuba  are  and  of  right  ought 
to  be  free  and  independent,  that  reason  could  not  go  as  far  as 
to  declare  that  the  Puerto  Rican  people  are  and  ought  of  right 
to  be  deprived  of  the  inalienable  rights,  including  liberty, 
life  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  with  which  the  Creator  en- 
dowed all  men. 

The  relief  to  which  the  undersigned  have  referred  consists  of 
the  following: 

First. 

That  you  may  be  pleased  to  cause  the  condition  and  rules  of 
civil  government  to  prevail  in  Puerto  Rico,  as  they  prevail 
everywhere  else  in  time  of  peace  in  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica ;  and  in  consequence  thereof  that  the  War  Department 
should  cease  to  take  cognizance  of  any  thnig  or  matter  relating 
to  the  administration  of  the  government  of  Puerto  Rico,  and 
confine  its  action  exclusively  to  those  things  and  matters  which 
pertain  to  the  army. 

The  obviousness  of  this  measure  is  such  as  to  preclude  the 
necessity  of  any  argument  in  support  thereof.  Now,  under 
the  existing  conditions  of  perfect  peace,  the  authority  of  the 


United  States  of  America  over  the  Island  of  Puerto  Rico  is 
simply  civil,  and  cannot  be  exercised,  in  civil  matters,  under 
the  laws  of  the  United  States,  through  military  channels. 

Second. 

That  you  raaj'  be  pleased  to  direct,  as  a  further  consequence 
of  the  above,  that  all  matters  relating  to  the  administration  of 
the  government  of  the  island  of  Puerto  Rico,  as  far  as  the 
action  of  the  United  States  Government  is  or  may  be  concerned, 
be  transferred  to  that  Department  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  to  which  they  may  rightly  belong.  Business  con- 
cerning customs,  the  currency,  the  national  banking  system, 
etc. ,  etc. ,  must  be  transacted  through  the  Treasury  Department. 
Those  relating  to  the  United  States  courts  and  judicial  officers 
must  be  transacted  through  the  Department  of  Justice.  Mat- 
ters concerning  patents,  trade-marks,  copyrights,  public  lauds, 
etc.,  etc.,  must  belong  to  the  Department  of  the  Interior. 
National  promotion  of  agriculture  is  a  matter  which  pertains 
to  the  Department  of  Agriculture.  Postal  service  and  all  things 
relating  to  or  connected  \vith  it  must  rightly  fall  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Postmaster-General  of  the  United  States. 

Third. 

That  yoti  may  be  pleased  to  cause  the  army  of  the  United 
States  in  Puerto  Rico  to  be  reduced  to  such  numbers  as  are 
strictly  necessary  to  garrison  the  forts  and  military  posts  of  the 
United  States  in  the  said  islands. 

It  would  be  just,  as  well  as  eminently  useful  politically,  to 
continue  and  encourage  the  idea  already  put  in  operation,  with 
notable  success,  of  inviting  Puerto  Ricans  to  join  the  army  of 
the  United  States.  This  was  requested  from  you  by  the  under- 
signed Commissioners  on  the  20tli  of  January  ultimo,  and  was 
granted  by  you,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  Puerto  Rican 
people. 

Fourth. 

That  you  may  be  pleased,  in  anticipation  of  any  action  of 
Congress,  under  Article  XI  of  the  treaty  of  peace,  on  the 
political  status  of  the  native  inhabitants  of  Puerto  Rico,  to 
order  the  latter  to  be  considered  at  once,  for  all  purposes  and 
effects,  citizens  of  the  United  States  of  America,  entitled  to  all 
the  rights  secured  to  such  citizens  under  the  Constitution  and 
the  laws  of  the  United  States. 


17 

Fifth. 

That  you  may  be  pleased,  in  further  recognition  of  the  state 
of  peace  and  of  the  right  of  self  government  inalienably  vested 
in  the  Puerto  Rican  people,  to  cause  said  government  to  be 
exercised  by  the  people  themselves,  as  it  is  done  in  all  the 
States,  Territories,  and  possessions  of  the  United  States  of 
America.  Such  government,  as  far  as  the  executive  portion 
thereof  is  concerned,  might  be  kept  temporarily  in  the  same 
form  and  manner  as  the  present  government  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  which  is  vested  in  three  commissioners,  with  all  the 
officials  necessary  for  the  transaction  of  official  business.  The 
Territorial  form  of  government,  in  which  the  executive  author- 
ity is  vested  in  a  civil  governor,  assisted  by  a  secretary  and 
all  other  necessary  officials,  would  be  equally  acceptable.  The 
said  board  of  commissioners  or  civil  governor,  as  the  case  may 
be,  should  communicate  directly  with  the  President  of  the 
United  States. 

Sixth. 

That  you  may  be  pleased  to  direct  the  government  of  the 
Island  of  Puerto  Rico,  as  far  as  the  legislative  branch  thereof 
is  concerned,  to  be  vested  in  a  council  consisting  of  fifteen 
members,  two  for  each  one  of  the  seven  departments  of  the 
Island  and  one  for  the  City  of  San  Juan.  The  election  of  these 
councilmen,  except  the  one  representing  San  Juan,  shall  be 
made,  temporarily,  until  a  census  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Isl- 
and of  Puerto  Rico  is  taken,  and  universal  suffrage  is  estab- 
lished as  everywhere  else  in  the  United  States,  by  an  electoral 
college,  consisting  of  one  member  for  each  municipal  corpora- 
tion, or  ayuntamiento,  within  the  limits  of  each  department, 
chosen  by  a  majority  of  votes  out  of  the  members  of  the  same 
corporation.  These  electors  shall  meet  at  the  chief  town  of 
the  respective  departments  and  by  majority  of  vote  shall  chose 
the  two  persons  who  are  to  represent  the  latter  in  the  legisla- 
tive council;  but  no  person  shall  be  elected  to  fill  the  latter 
position  who  is  not  a  Puerto  Rican  and  has  not  resided  in  the 
department  at  least  for  two  years  immediately  preceding  the 
election.  The  legislative  council  shall  take  no  action  in  mat- 
ters which  properly  belong  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
vStates,  and  their  determination  shall  be  in  all  cases  sul^ject  to 
the  veto  of  the  board  of  commissioners  or  the  civil  governor,  as 
the  case  may  be. 


Seventh. 

That  you  may  be  pleased  to  order  a  census  to  be  taken  at 
once  in  Puerto  Rico,  exactly  on  the  same  plan  as  this  is  done 
in  the  United  States,  so  as  to  enable  Congress,  when  convening 
next  winter,  to  decide  with  official  figures  whether  Puerto  Rico 
is  to  be  organized  as  a  Territory,  admitted  as  a  State  of  the 
American  Union,  or  disposed  of  in  any  other  way. 

Eighth. 

That  you  may  be  pleased  to  order,  in  compliance  with  the 
provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  that  the 
trade  between  the  Island  of  Puerto  Rico  and  the  United  States 
of  America  be  absolutely  free;  that  it  be  regulated  exactly  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  Interstate  Commerce  is  in  the  United 
States;  and  that  the  Customs  Laws  in  force  in  Puerto  Rico  be 
only  applicable  to  the  trade  and  commerce  between  Puerto 
Rico  and  all  the  nations  in  the  world  which  are  not  the  United 
States. 

Respectfully  submitted  by  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners 
to  Washington. 

Manuel  Zeno  Gandia.        J.  Julio  Henna. 

Washington,  D.  C, 
April  19th,  189Q. 


THE  PUERTO  RICAN  COMMISSIONERS 

TO 

PRESIDENT  McKINLEY. 


THIRD  LETTER. 


No.  8  West  40TH  St.,  New  York,  May  5,  1899. 

To  His  Excellency  Wm.  McKinley, 

President  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Mr.  President  : 

The  undersigned,  J.  Julio  Henna  and  Manuel  Zeno  Gandia, 
Puerto  Rican  Commissioner.s,  who  on  the  19th  of  April  had  the 
honor  of  conferring  with  you  on  matters  relating  to  their 
country,  and  recommended  the  adoption  of  eight  measures 
which  independently  of  their  intrinsic  justice  are  urgently  re- 
quired in  Puerto  Rico,  come  before  you  again  in  the  discharge 
of  their  duties,  and  submit  the  following  considerations  : 

I. 

That  in  their  urging  and  insisting  upon  the  cessation  of 
military  rule  in  Puerto  Rico,  and  the  establishment  in  that 
beautiful  and  highly-civilized  country  of  a  system  of  civil  gov- 
ernment, in  the  manner  set  forth  in  the  first,  second,  fifth  and 
sixth  measures  of  relief  recommended  by  them,  they  did  not 
mean,  nor  do  they  meau  now,  to  criticise  the  administration 
of  the  military  government,  to  which  Puerto  Rico  is  now  sub- 
mitted against  the  will  of  its  inhabitants,  or  the  military  officers 
in  whom  the  said  government  is  vested,  or  implicate  any  doubt 
as  to  the  honesty  of  the  views  and  purposes  of  the  officers  of 
the  United  States  Army,  upon  whom  all  things  in  Puerto  Rico 
from  the  superior  government  of  the  Island  to  the  management 
of  the  poorest  Puerto  Ricau  Custom  House  ab.solutely  depend 
at  present. 

The  Commissioners'  objection  to  military  rule  in  the  country 
wherein  they  were  born,  and  whose  interests,  whether  mate- 
rial or  moral,  they  have  .so  much  at  heart,  con.sists  exclu.sively 
in  the  intrinsic  injustice  of  the  system  and  its  degrading  and 
demoralizing  effects  upon  the  noble  people  they  have  the  honor 
to  represent. 

Army  officers  when  taken  out  of  their  own  proper  sphere  of 


20 

action  and  transferred  from  the  destructive  to  the  constructive 
side  of  public  business,  may  prove  to  be  excellent  rulers,  espe- 
cially in  those  cases  which  are  surrounded  with  difficulties, 
when  the  temptation  is  felt  to  cut  the  Gordian  knots  rather 
than  loosen  them.  But  the  system  which  puts  the  power  in 
their  hands,  even  if  they  are  geniuses  as  great  as  Alexander  or 
Caesar,  is,  under  the  American  point  of  view,  bad  and  detesta- 
ble. 

The  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  are  advised,  and  they  have 
no  difficulty  in  believing,  it  being  perfectly  in  keeping  with 
the  American  ideas,  that  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  through  the  organ  of  its  great  Chief  Justice,  Mr. 
Marshall,  expressly  declared  that  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  is  a  government  of  laws  and  not  of  men  ;  and 
that,  therefore,  a  system  whose  first  and  most  natural  effect  is 
to  silence  law,  inter  arma  silent  leges,  is  already  condemned, 
at  least  in  times  of  peace,  by  that  court,  which  is  not  only  the 
highest  in  the  land,  but  the  constitutional  moderator  of  ex- 
cesses of  power  by  both  the  executive  and  the  legislative  de- 
partments of  the  Federal  Government. 

The  charge  was  made  against  Spain  in  1874,  under  President 
Grant's  administration,  and  made  with  peculiar  cogency,  in 
justification  of  the  Cuban  war  of  independence  which  was  then 
raging,  that  the  government  which  Spain  had  devised  for  the 
Island,  subsequently  to  the  uprising  of  Mexico  and  South 
America,  was  a  military  government  from  the  highest  to  the 
humblest  place  in  the  scale.  President  Grant  was  a  soldier, 
and  as  a  soldier  had  achieved  the  celebrity  which  placed  him 
in  the  Presidential  chair,  which  is  now  occupied  by  Your  Ex- 
cellency ;  but  he  knew  well  that  by  supressing  self-government 
and  holding  thus  intelligent  and  educated  men  under  military 
control,  their  inalienable  rights  would  be  ignored,  noble  and 
lawful  aspirations  curbed,  and  seeds  of  legitimate  discontent- 
ment and  distrust  profusely  sown. 

It  has  been  clear  for  a  long  period  of  time  to  many  reflecting 
minds,  both  in  the  United  States  of  America  and  in  the  Spanish- 
speaking  countries  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  that  the  incor- 
poration of  these  countries,  more  or  less  gradually,  into  the 
American  Union  was  as  inevitable  as  it  is  for  an  apple  to  fall 
to  the  ground  when  its  connection  with  the  tree  is  severed  by 
the  force  of  the  storm. 

Your  predecessor,  Mr.  Jefferson,  had  at  such  an  early  date 
as  the  27th  of  April,  1809,  exactly  ninety  years  ago,  expressed 
himself  earnestly  in  favor  of  what  he  called  ' '  expansion  of  the 
empire  of  liberty  "  on  the  side  of  Cuba,  and  presumably  of 


21 

Puerto  Rico  also;  and  the  Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Rela- 
tions of  the  35th  Congress,  consisting  of  great  men,  whose 
names  are  ilUistrious  in  American  history,  emphatically  de- 
clared that  •'  the  law  of  our  national  existence  is  growth,"  and 
that  in  the  same  way  as  England  had  the  right  "  to  pursue  her 
march  of  conquest  and  emancipation  in  India,"  France  "to 
extend  her  dominions  on  the  southern  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean," or  Russia  "to  subjugate  her  barbarous  neighbors  in 
Asia,"  so  the  United  States  had  the  right  of  "claiming  in  this 
hemisphere  the  same  privileges  that  they  (England,  France, 
and  Russia)  exercise  in  the  other." 

But  neither  Mr.  Jefferson  nor  the  Senate  Committee  on  For- 
eign Relations  of  the  35tli  Congress,  nor  any  partisan,  however 
enthusiastic,  of  annexation  and  expansion,  ever  came  to  the 
extreme  of  wishing  to  follow  the  example  of  Russia  in  Poland 
in  the  New  World. 

The  idea  of  peace  as  happily  stigmatized  by  Tacitus  when 
he  said  solitudincm  faciiuit  paccm  appcllaiit  is  not  by  any  means 
an  American  idea. 

Mr.  Jefferson  wanted  to  have  these  countries  incorporated 
into  the  Union,  not  to  subjugate  them,  but  to  give  them  a  place 
in  "the  empire  of  liberty."  "Such  an  empire,"  he  said,  "as 
she  (Liberty)  has  never  surveyed  since  the  creation,"  as  "  no 
constitution  was  ever  before  so  well  calculated  as  ours  for 
extensive  empire  and  self-government."  And  the  Committee 
on  Foreign  Relations  of  the  vSenate  of  the  35th  Congress  did 
not  fail  to  couple  their  declarations  above  quoted  with  the  sig- 
nificant statement  that  "if  it  were  true  that  the  inhabitants  of 
Cuba  did  not  desire  a  transfer  of  their  territory  to  the  United 
States,  that  fact  would  "  present  a  very  serious  objection  to  the 
measure." 

If  the  fortunes  of  a  war  waged  exclusively  for  the  human- 
itarian purpose  of  freeing  Cuba  from  bondage  and  raising  her 
to  the  position  of  a  free  and  independent  conimonwealth  caused 
Puerto  Rico  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  United  States  as  an 
indemnity  for  the  expenses  of  the  military  operations  and  for 
the  payment  of  certain  claims  which  are  not  as  yet  liquidated, 
that  transfer,  which  realizes  to  a  certain  extent  the  aspirations 
of  Mr.  Jefferson  and  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Rela- 
tions of  the  35th  Congress,  cannot  certainly  constitute  under 
the  flag  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  of  America  an  expan- 
sion of  military  empire  and  purely  military  colonial  domination, 
repugnant  to  the  wishes  of  the  people  of  the  island  and  to  the 
principles  upon  which  the  whole  fabric  of  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  firmly  rests. 


22 

Practices  of  this  nature  may  find  justification,  if  the  word 
justification  may  be  aptly  applied  even  in  this  case,  when  the 
conquering  country  has  to  deal  with  savage  races;  but  the 
Puerto  Rican  people  have  not  as  yet  been  able  to  discover, 
either  ethnically,  or  in  the  constitution  of  their  minds,  or  in 
any  aspect  whatever  of  what  is  called  civilization,  that  they  are 
inferior  to  any  other  people  of  the  world  and  need  a  military 
guardian  to  teach  them  what  self-government  means. 

The  Puerto  Rican  people  fully  appreciate,  and  are  thankful 
for  it,  the  spirit  of  kindness  and  of  righteousness  which  has 
been  shown  by  you  at  all  times,  since  the  acquisition  of  Puerto 
Rico  by  the  United  States,  in  your  desire  to  do  good  to  their 
country  and  become  acquainted  with  their  wishes  and  their 
necessities.  But  the  suggestion  is  made  respectfully  that  the 
subject  of  reforming,  if  reform  is  needed,  the  Puerto  Rican 
system  of  municipal  law,  the  Puerto  Rican  constitution  of  the 
family,  the  Puerto  Rican  plans  of  education,  or  any  other 
Puerto  Rican  things  in  general,  does  not  properly  belong  to 
the  army  officers  who  now  control  Puerto  Rico,  or  to  the 
War  Department,  from  which  they  derive  their  authority,  but 
to  the  Puerto  Rican  people  themselves. 

The  chief  error  of  Spain  in  its  colonial  policy  subsequent  to 
1825  was  attempting  to  rule  Cuba  and  Puerto  Rico  through 
military  authorities  and  upon  their  reports. 

The  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  do  not  understand  that  the 
americanization  of  Puerto  Rico,  so  earnestly  advocated  by 
American  newspapers  and  other  American  agencies,  can  be  law- 
fully tortured  into  the  enforced  obliteration  by  American  mili- 
itary  hands  of  all  things  Puerto  Rican,  not  quia  bad  in  them- 
selves, but  quia  Puerto  Rican. 

It  is  in  the  order  of  nature  as  well  as  in  harmony  with  the 
teachings  of  political  science  and  the  true  principles  of  democ- 
racy that  no  paternalism  in  any  way  whatever,  whether  mili- 
tary or  civil,  .should  be  exercised  in  Puerto  Rico.  The  Puerto 
Rican  people  have  not  lost,  by  becoming  through  the  fate  ot 
war  a  portion  of  the  American  territory,  the  right  of  self-gov- 
ernment, which  your  predecessor,  Mr.  Clevelatid,  urged  the 
Spanish  Government  to  recognize  in  full. 

Mr.  Cleveland  did  not  venture  any  novel  or  hazardous  doc- 
trine when  he  said  in  his  last  measure  to  Congress  that  by 
means  of  a  full  measure  of  autonomy  "the  prosperity  of  the 
Island  (he  referred  to  Cuba)  and  the  future  of  its  inhabitants 
would  be  put  in  control  of  the  latter,"  with  the  additional  jid- 
vantage  that  an  opportunity  should  thus  be  afforded  to  the 
same  people  to  test  their  capacity  for  self  government. 


2} 
11. 

Tliat  in  regard  to  the  third  and  seventli  measures  suggested 
to  you  on  the  19th  instant  by  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners, 
they  have  nothing  to  say  at  present  which  is  not  a  reiteration 
of  their  former  arguments. 

Tlie  reduction  in  numbers  of  the  United  States  military  es- 
tablishment in  Puerto  Rico  is  not  only  just  and  in  keeping  with 
the  spirit  of  the  American  institutions,  but  will  facilitate  the 
unification  of  Puerto  Rico  with  the  rest  of  the  country  to  which 
it  has  been  ceded. 

The  allowing  Puerto  Ricans  to  enlist  in  the  military  serv- 
ice of  the  United  States,  if  so  they  want,  will  certainly  contrib- 
ute to  that  work  of  beneficent  assimilation. 

The  taking  of  the  census,  as  indicated  in  the  seventh  meas- 
ure of  relief  suggested  to  you,  seems  to  be  the  basis  upon  which 
all  practical  schemes  of  agricultural  and  industrial  work,  as 
well  as  of  taxation,  are  necessarily  to  be  founded. 

III. 

That  in  regard  to  the  fourth  suggested  measure  of  relief, 
namely,  that  the  native  inhabitants  of  Puerto  Rico  be  at  once 
declared,  for  all  purposes  and  effects,  citizens  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  entitled  to  all  the  rights  secured  to  such  citi- 
zens under  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States, 
the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  cannot  fail  to  point  out  the 
just  and  immense  popularity  which  the  measure,  if  adopted, 
will  accrue  to  your  name. 

Four  times  in  the  history  of  the  United  States  the  territory 
of  the  latter  has  been  enlarged  by  cessions  made  in  their  favor 
by  other  powers.  But  in  none  of  these  cases  were  the  people 
of  the  countries  thus  ceded  not  taken  into  respectful  considera- 
tion. The  Louisianans  had  to  be  admitted  as  soon  as  possible 
to  all  the  rights,  advantages,  and  immunities  of  citizens  of  the 
United  States.  The  Floridians  were  referred  to  exactly  in  the 
same  language.  The  Mexicans  of  California  and  the  other 
lands  acquired  by  the  United  States  in  1848  had  to  be  citizens 
of  the  United  States  if  they  did  not  express  their  desire  to  con- 
tinue to  be  Mexicans.  The  Alaskans,  except  the  uncivilized 
tribes,  had  to  be  admitted  to  all  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  rights, 
advantages,  and  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  if 
they  did  not  return  to  Russia.  The  uncivilized  tribes  had  to 
be  treated  as  the  American  Indians  are. 

But  under  Article  IX,  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace  between  the 


United  States  and  Spain,  by  which  Puerto  Rico  was  ceded  to 
the  American  Union,  the  inhabitants  born  in  the  island  are 
absolutely  disfranchised.  They  have  no  civil  rights.  They 
have  no  political  status.  They  are  parias.  They  have  no  na- 
tionality.    They  have  not  even  the  right  to  choose  one. 

The  Treaty  says  that  the  civil  rights  and  political  status  of 
the  native  inhabitants  of  Puerto  Rico  shall  be  determined  by 
Congress. 

The  Spaniards  residing  in  Puerto  Rico  were  more  favored. 
They  can  either  remain  Spaniards  or  become  American  citi- 
zens. The  native  Puerto  Ricans  can  do  nothing.  They  are 
neither  Spaniards  nor  Americans.  If  they  want  to  travel  and 
desire  an  American  passport,  the  passport  is  refused  to  them, 
American  rights  and  privileges  are  not  within  their  reach. 
American  liberty  means  to  them  nothing  else  than  being  ruled 
by  an  American  General,  and  militarj'  control  is  to  them  the 
only  exponent  of  law  and  social  order. 

This  power  is  so  unbounded,  that  under  the  Amended  Cus- 
tom Tariff  promulgated  by  the  War  Department,  if  a  question 
arises  in  custom  matters,  the  decision  of  the  American  Col- 
lector of  the  Port  of  San  Juan  is  to  be  final.  No  appeal  can 
be  taken  against  it. 

There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  Congress  in  its  day  will 
bring  down  these  things  to  their  proper  level.  The  effort  will 
be  made,  at  least,  with  all  that  energy  and  earnestness  which 
the  consciousness  of  duty  and  the  right  of  self-defence  may 
warrant.  But  it  seems  to  the  undersigned  Commissioners  that 
such  a  strange  and  unjust  disfranchisement  of  the  Puerto 
Rican  people  can  easily  be  removed  by  you. 

A  great  writer  of  modern  times  has  said  that  men  are  almost 
more  jealous  of  preserving  their  dignity  than  of  enforcing  their 
rights  ;  and  if  this  be,  as  it  is,  true,  throughout  the  whole 
world,  it  is  more  so,  if  possible,  among  those  people  who  be- 
long to  that  race  which  for  the  sake  of  convenience  has  been 
called  "the  Uatin  race." 

There  is  no  reason  in  the  world  for  desiring  between  the 
Puerto  Ricans  and  the  American  people,  no  matter  how  small 
the  one  and  how  gigantic  the  other,  any  feeling  which  is  not 
of  benevolence  and  good  will. 

IV. 

That  in  regard  to  the  eighth  measure  of  relief,  namely,  the 
establishment  of  absolute  free  trade  between  Puerto  Rico  and 
the  rest  of  the  United  States,  and  vice  versa,  the  Puerto  Rican 


2S 

Commissioners  deem  themselves  to  be  bound  by  their  duty  to 
earnestly  represent  to  you  the  justice  of  that  measure  and  the 
urgent  extreme  necessity  that  it  be  at  once  adopted. 

Puerto  Rico  and  the  continental  portion  of  the  American 
Union,  to  which  the  former  has  been  attached  and  into  which 
it  has  been  incorporated,  are  not  foreign  to  each  other.  They 
are  one  and  the  same  country  ;  and  although  separated  by  the 
sea  they  are  the  same  territory,  politically,  geographically,  and 
in  all  other  respects.  The  trade  between  them  is  coast-wise 
trade,  and  as  such  it  has  to  be  subject  to  and  regulated  by  the 
wise  provisions  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  Amer- 
ican Union.  No  tariff  barrier  can  be  raised,  constitutionally, 
between  the  one  and  the  other. 

In  addition  to  this  lack  of  power  on  the  part  of  the  American 
Government  to  deal  with  Puerto  Rico,  commercially,  after  the 
promulgation  of  the  state  of  peace,  as  if  it  were  a  foreign 
country,  there  is  the  extreme  condition  of  destitution  and 
poverty  into  which  that  unlawful  situation  has  plunged  the 
Puerto  Rican  people. 

"The  people  are  miserably  poor  and  there  is  stagna- 
tion in  nearly  every  line  of  business.  Before  the  war 
between  the  United  States  and  Spain  the  principal 
markets  for  Puerto  Rico  were  Cuba  and  Spain.  Since 
the  cession  of  Puerto  Rico  to  this  Government  there  is 
no  longer  any  market  for  products  either  in  Cuba  or 
.Spain,  because  they  are  barred  out  by  import  duties  on 
sugar,  coffee  and  other  articles,  where  formerly  no  taxes 
were  levied.  If  the  United  States  Government  does 
not  authorize  free  trade  between  Puerto  Rico  and  its 
ports,  then  the  Puerto  Rican  planters  and  merchants 
will  be  ruined," 

The  principal  exports  of  Puerto  Rico  are  coffee,  sugar, 
tobacco,  and  mola.sses.  The  value  of  the.se  exports  in  United 
States  currency  in  the  year  1895  were: 

Coffee 18,789,788 

Sugar 3,747,891 

Tobacco           ....  646,556 

Molasses          ....  517,746 

If  these  articles,  which  are  now  American  articles — as  Amer- 
ican as  the  Louisiana  sugar  and  the  Virginia  tobacco  are  Amer- 
ican— cannot  come  to  the  markets  of  the  United  vStates — that 
is  to  say,  to  their  own  natural  domestic  markets — without  pay- 


26 

ing  duties  and  seeing  themselves  subject  to  a  ruinous  competi- 
tion, what  will  then  have  become  of  the  wise  provision  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  which  forbids  the  drawing 
custom  lines  between  States  and  States  or  between  Territories 
and  States?  And  what  benefit  would  have  then  been  derived 
economically  by  the  Puerto  Rican  people  from  the  change  of 
allegiance  forced  upon  them  by  the  necessity  for  the  United 
States  to  pay  certain  claims  of  their  citizens  against  Spain  and 
to  reimburse  the  expenses  of  a  war  waged  to  emancipate  Cuba 
and  make  the  Cuban  people  free  and  independent,  and  not  to 
put  in  bondage  the  Puerto  Rican  people? 

Strange  as  it  may  appear,  the  fact  is  that,  economically,  the 
Puerto  Rican  people  were  by  far  much  better  off  under  the 
Spanish  rule  in  the  days  of  your  predecessor  President  Harri- 
son than  under  the  "Amended  Customs  Tariff  and  Regulations 
for  Ports  in  Puerto  Rico,"  promulgated  by  the  War  Depart- 
menl  on  January  20th,  1899. 

Under  President  Harrison  and  the  ' '  reciprocal  commercial 
arrangements  ' '  which  were  made  with  Spain  in  regard  to  Cuba 
and  Puerto  Rico—  arrangements  of  such  vital  importance  that 
their  discontinuation  was  in  reality  the  only  cause  which  ren- 
dered the  insurrection  of  1895  possible  in  the  island  of  Cuba — 
the  commerce  between  Puerto  Rico  and  the  United  States  was 
exceedingly  prosperous.  Puerto  Rico  sent  to  the  United  States 
an  immense  percentage  of  its  products  and  received  in  ex- 
change from  the  United  States,  either  free  from  duty  or  with 
very  moderate  duties,  the  majority  of  those  articles  which  are 
most  needed  in  the  island. 

American  meat  in  brine  or  salted,  for  instance,  was  imported 
in  Puerto  Rico  free  from  duty.  Lard  and  fish  and  oysters  in 
all  forms  and  tallow  were  also  admitted  free.  But  now.  under 
the  Amended  Customs  Tariff  promulgated  by  the  War  Depart- 
ment, the  Puerto  Rican  people  have  to  pay  import  duties  for  all 
these  articles.  They  have  to  pay  $1.25  per  hundred  kilograms 
of  American  meat  in  brine.  The  duty  on  lard  is  $1.70;  on 
tallow,  $1.70;  on  fish,  oysters,  etc.,  50  cents  or$i,  according 
to  circumstances. 

American  corn  meal  was  imported  in  Puerto  Rico  without 
paying  more  than  25  cents  for  each  one  hundred  kilograms. 
Now,  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff,  the  duty  is  30  cents. 

In  order  to  protect  the  Spanish  wheat  flour  American  flour 
paid  then  in  Puerto  Rico  $1  per  each  one  hundred  kilograms. 
Now,  when  no  Spanish  industry  is  to  be  protected,  the  same 
duty  is  levied,  to  the  detriment  of  the  American  miller  and  of 
the  Puerto  Rican  consumer. 


27 

The  comparison  between  the  two  systems  could  be  carried  in 
this  very  same  way  to  considerable  extent,  and  it  certainly 
would  prove  that  Mr.  Harrison's  ideas  were,  if  not  wiser  in- 
trinsically, much  more  favorable  to  the  people  both  here  and 
in  Puerto  Rico. 

The  situation  in  which  Puerto  Rico  finds  itself  at  present  is 
neither  just  nor  logical.  Puerto  Rico  has  done  nothing  to  de- 
serve to  be  forbidden  admission  to  the  American  markets,  or  to 
be  starved  to  death  through  high  duties  under  the  Amended 
Customs  Tariff  promulgated  by  the  War  Department. 

If  the  Puerto  Rican  people  can  sell  their  products  as  they 
ought  to  in  the  United  States,  and  if  they  can  buy  cheaply 
from  the  United  States  what  they  need  to  live  on,  who  can 
doubt  that  the  economical  ties  attaching  them  to  the  United 
States  will  grow  quickly  into  firmer  bonds  of  political  attach- 
ment and  love  ? 

If  there  is  anything  better  proven  than  all  others  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  relations  between  Spain  and  Puerto  Rico  and  Cuba, 
that  thing  is  that  economical  errors  have  been  the  essential 
cause  of  all  the  troubles  between  the  mother  country  and  her 
colonies.  The  violation  of  the  economical  law  brought  with 
itself  the  dissolution  of  the  political  bond  between  Spain  and 
her  possessions. 

In  1865  the  Spanish  Government,  presided  over  at  that  time 
by  Don  Antonio  Canovas  del  Castillo,  called  to  Madrid  repre- 
sentatives from  Cuba  and  Puerto  Rico  to  answer  interrogatories 
propounded  to  them  regarding  the  question  of  slavery  and  the 
economical  and  political  problems  of  the  two  islands.  Some  ot 
the  delegates  were  elected  by  the  people,  while  some  others 
were  chosen  by  the  government.  All  shades  of  opinion  were 
represented  at  that  gathering,  and  the  answers  which  were 
given  illustrated  very  plainly  the  aforesaid  divergence.  Some 
were  in  favor  of  the  continuation  of  slavery,  others  proposed 
gradual  emancipation,  and  still  others  (and  they  were  the 
Puerto  Rican  delegates)  demanded  its  immediate  abolition, 
with  or  without  indemnification.  Some  proposed  certain  po- 
litical reforms;  some  others  did  not  want  any  reform  at  all. 
But  there  was  a  point  in  which,  to  the  astonishment  of  all, 
there  was  absolute  unanimity.  The  conservative  as  well  as  the 
radical,  the  merchant  as  well  as  the  planter,  the  soldier  as  well 
as  the  civilian,  all  agreed  without  exception  to  recommend  the 
abolition  of  the  Custom  Houses  in  Puerto  Rico  and  Cuba  and 
the  establishment  of  direct  taxation  under  a  plan  they  had  de- 
vised and  submitted  for  the  support  of  the  government. 

Neither  Cuba  nor  Puerto  Rico  will  ever  be  able  to  make  a 


2S 

step  in  the  road  of  true  progress  and  happiness  as  long  as  a 
custom  house  stands  upon  their  soil. 

The  argument  has  been  made  by  well  disposed  persons  con- 
versant with  the  facts  of  the  case  that  by  placing  Puerto  Rico  in 
its  relations  with  the  rest  of  the  United  States  in  the  same  condi- 
tions, as  far  as  commerce  and  navigation  are  concerned,  asunder 
the  constitution  and  the  laws  exists  between  any  State  or  Terri- 
torj'-  of  the  American  Union  and  the  Union  itself,  a  considerable 
reduction  in  the  revenue  of  the  United  States  would  be  at  once 
experienced.  But  this  reasoning  loses  its  weight  as  soon  as  it 
is  seen  that  under  American  ideas  taxation  is  a  means,  not  an 
end,  and  that  in  the  eternal  harmony  of  justice  and  true  util- 
ity the  just  removal  of  the  burdens  which  weigh  upon  the 
commerce  between  Puerto  Rico  and  the  rest  of  the  United 
States  will  increase  the  production  on  the  one  and  the  other 
side,  and  create  a  compensation  of  better  character  and  much 
more  to  be  desired  than  money  in  the  Treasury. 

If  levying  taxes  upon  the  imports  and  exports  of  Puerto 
Rico,  besides  being  constitutionally  wrong  and  contrary  to  law 
and  principle,  leads  to  the  paralysis  of  Puerto  Rican  industry 
and  commerce,  and  causes  poverty  and  destitution  to  prevail 
in  the  Island,  the  sooner  that  it  is  discontinued  the  better  it 
will  be. 

Hoping  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  give  favorable  considera- 
tion to  the  just  representations  herein  made,  we  have  the  honor 
to  subscribe  ourselves,  with  great  respect. 
Your  most  obedient  servants, 

J.  Julio  Henna,         M.  Zeno  Gandia. 


THE   PUERTO    RICAN  COMMISSIONERS 

TO 

PRESIDENT  McKINLEY. 


FOURTH  LETTER. 


New  York,  June  75,  iSi^^. 
To  His  Excellency  William  McKinley, 

President  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Sir: 

The  undersigned  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners,  encouraged 
b\'  the  wise  attitude  which  the  Secretary  of  vState  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  no  doubt  under  your  instructions,  has  taken 
in  regard  to  the  native  people  of  Puerto  Rico  in  his  recent  cir- 
cular of  instructions  to  diplomatic  and  consular  officers  of  the 
United  States  throughout  the  world,  come  again  before  you,  in 
the  fulfillment  of  their  duty,  to  ask  that  that  attitude,  plainly 
in  anticipation  of  what  Congress  may  do,  be  also  taken,  in  the 
same  way,  as  is  just  and  practicable,  in  regard  to  all  the  other 
points  embraced  in  their  communications  to  you  of  January 
20th,  April  19th  and  May  5th  of  the  present  year. 

The  Secretary  of  State  has  ordered,  with  characteristic  dis- 
cretion and  foresight,  that  native  Puerto  Ricans  should  be 
allowed  to  register  their  names  in  the  United  vStates  legations 
and  consulates  throughout  the  whole  world,  and  that  the  pro- 
tection of  the  United  States  should  be  given  to  those  who  so 
registered  in  all  matters  where  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
similarly  situated  would  be  entitled  thereto,  adding,  however, 
that  the  said  ambassadors  and  consuls  must  be  careful  to  have 
it  appear  that  the  said  native  Puerto  Ricans  so  registered  and 
protected  are  admitted  to  registration  and  granted  protection 
not  as  citizens  of  the  United  States,  but  as  native  inhabitants 
of  Puerto  Rico. 

The  reason  of  this  distinction  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
tlie  determination  of  the  political  status  and  civil  rights  of  the 
native  Puerto  Ricans  was,  under  an  express  provision  of  the 
treaty  of  Paris,  left  to  Congress. 


30 

The  State  Department  of  the  United  States  of  America — 
center  at  all  times,  from  the  very  first  day  of  its  establishment 
to  the  present  moment,  of  wise  and  enlightened  statesman- 
ship—conld  not  see  any  longer  with  apathetic  indifference  that 
the  natives  of  a  country  over  which  the  American  flag  has 
been  floating  for  over  nine  months  should  be  deprived  of  the 
right  of  protection,  which  is  the  counterpart  and  the  condition 
of  the  duty  of  allegiance,  until  some  future  day  in  which  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  might  find  time  to  occupy  itself 
on  this  subject  and  pass  some  law  providing  something  in  re- 
gard to  their  political  status. 

A  man  is  born  in  the  middle  of  the  ocean  on  board  a  ship 
which  navigates  under  the  flag  of  the  United  States,  and  that 
fact,  though  accidental  and  fortuitous,  entitles  the  man  thus 
born  to  the  privileges  of  American  citizenship  and  to  the  pro- 
tection of  the  American  Government.  But  a  man  is  born  in 
Puerto  Rico,  which  is  American  territory  and  over  which  the 
American  flag  floats  without  opposition,  and  he  is  not  Ameri- 
can, neither  was  he  entitled  to  any  kind  of  American  protec- 
tion until  the  noble  scholar  and  statesman,  who  now  sits  on  the 
chair  formerly  occupied  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  Henry  Clay,  and 
others  of  their  caliber,  found  out  the  manner  of  conciliating 
justice  with  the  strict  language  of  the  treaty.  How  true  it  is 
that  scire  leges  non  est  ad  eadem  verba  tenere,  sed  vivi  ac  potes- 
tatem. 

While  thanking  you,  Mr.  President,  and  thanking  also  the 
learned  and  distinguished  Mr.  Hay  for  the  benefit  thus  granted 
to  the  people  born  in  Puerto  Rico,  we  want  to  express  our  wish 
that  you,  through  the  same  process  and  following  the  prece- 
dent so  established,  should  grant  to  Puerto  Rico,  temporarily 
at  least,  what  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  have  had  the 
honor  to  ask  you  in  their  former  communications. 

There  is  no  way  to  deny  that  a  portion  of  the  American  ter- 
ritory cannot  in  time  of  peace  be  placed  under  the  absolute 
control  of  the  military  branch  of  the  Government.  War  and 
military  rule  are  calamities,  which  have  no  justification  unless 
in  case  of  extreme  necessity.  As  Dr.  Warton  says  in  his  in- 
troduction to  the  diplomatic  correspondence  of  the  American 
revolution,  war  and  military  action  are  only  transient  incidents 
in  diplomatic  settlements,  arguments  like  all  others,  to  be  used 
when  required,  but  which  must  be  withdrawn  and  shelved 
when  peace  has  been  established.  Homo  hoviini  lupus  is  not, 
certainly,  the  ideal  of  Christian  civilization. 

There  is  no  way  to  deny  that  Puerto  Rico  being  American 
territory,  its  commerce  is  American,  and  that  the  trade  be- 


31 

tween  Puerto  Rico  and  the  continental  United  States  ought  to 
be  as  free  as  is  the  trade  between  New  York  and  Louisiana  or 
Texas  and  Massachusetts. 

There  is  no  way  to  den^'  tliat  the  enforcement  in  Puerto  Rico 
of  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff  of  January  20th,  1899,  and  its 
numerous  amendments,  by  which  all  the  articles  of  imme- 
diate necessity,  even  meats,  beans,  potatoes,  etc.,  etc.  (articles 
all  of  them  admitted  free  in  Puerto  Rico  under  the  reciprocity 
arrangements  of  Mr.  Blaine  when  Puerto  Rico  was  vSpanish) 
are  heavily  burdened,  is  injurious  both  to  the  people  of  the 
States  and  to  the  people  of  Puerto  Rico. 

There  is  no  way  to  deny  that  the  military  authorities  of 
Puerto  Rico  have  no  right  to  legislate  on  marriage,  on  divorce, 
on  education,  on  civil  or  criminal  law,  and  that  these  things 
must  be  left  to  the  Puerto  Rican  people  themselves.  As  Charles 
Sumner  said  with  reason  on  a  memorable  occasion,  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  the  Latin  civilizations,  although  "  most  unlike,  are 
yet  the  peer  of  each  other;"  and  no  man  who  does  not  close 
his  eyes  not  to  see  the  light,  or  who  is  not  blinded  by  ignor- 
ance, can  say  that  the  Puerto  Rican  Codes  of  laws,  civil  and 
criminal,  and  the  organization  of  the  Puerto  Rican  family  and 
the  Puerto  Rican  holy  horror  for  many  things  which  Mr.  Caleb 
Cushing  stigmatized  with  his  usual  energy  even  in  his  opinions 
as  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States,  are  inferior  to  others 
or  indications  of  what  is  now  called  "a  lower  civilization.'' 
If  the  Puerto  Rican  civilization  were  in  fact  lower  than  the 
American  civilization,  the  process  for  raising  it  up  might  with 
advantage  be  different  from  the  Procrustean  methods  so  far 
employed. 

There  is  no  way  to  deny  that  Puerto  Rico,  if  placed,  as  it 
ought  to  be,  under  the  full  sway  of  American  liberty,  would 
become,  as  per  enchantment,  the  happiest  and  the  most  pros- 
perous country  in  the  world,  and  that  it  would  thereby  con- 
tribute powerfully  and  efficiently  by  its  example  as  an  eloquent 
objective  lesson  to  a  prompt  settlement  of  the  difficulties  which 
are  now  encountered  in  the  rest  of  the  new  dominions  of  the 
American  Union. 

We  are,  Mr.  President,  with  great  respect,  your  obedient 
servants. 

J.  Julio  Henna,         M.  Zeno  Gandia. 


EXPLANATORY  NOTES. 


Note  No.  i. 
ON  THE  NAME  OF  PUERTO  RICO. 

When  Columbus,  iu  his  second  voyage,  after  a  cruise  among 
the  Caribbee  Islands,  discovered  Puerto  Rico,  in  November, 
1493,  he  gave  to  it  the  name  of  San  Juan  Bautista. 

The  island  was  not  explored  until  1508,  when  Juan  Ponce 
de  Leon  was  sent  there  from  Hayti,  or  Hispaniola,  at  the  head 
of  a  reconnoitering  expedition ;  and  when  these  explorations 
were  finished,  in  1509,  the  command  of  the  island  was  given 
to  the  explorer.  As  the  latter  was  struck  with  admiration  of 
a  port  on  the  northern  coast,  not  only  because  of  its  beauty 
and  its  advantageous  position,  but  because  of  its  being  the  cen- 
ter, and  no  doubt  the  best  outlet,  of  a  district  which  was  rep- 
resented to  him  as  being  very  rich,  especially  in  gold,  he  dis- 
tinguished that  port  from  the  others  by  the  epithet  of  Rico, 
which  in  Spanish  means  "Rich."  He  was  so  enamored  of 
it  that  he  fixed  his  seat  of  government  in  a  town,  which  he 
founded  and  called  "Caparra,"  at  scarcely  three  miles  from  it. 

Through  the  importance  of  this  "rich  harbor,'' or /'//r/'/t? 
Rico,  as  it  is  said  in  Spanish,  it  came  to  pass  for  the  Island  of 
San  Juan  to  be  described  thereafter  as  "the  Island  of  San 
Juan  of  the  rich  harbor,''  San  Juan  del  Puerto  Rico,  or  Sati 
Juan  de  Puerto  Rico.  The  rich  harbor  being  considered  the 
geographical  characteristic  feature  of  the  country,  it  became 
also,  through  a  most  natural  evolution,  the  most  appropriate 
distinctive  to  be  used  for  purposes  of  description  and  identifi- 
cation. 

A  further  evolution  caused  the  essential  part  of  the  name 
to  prevail,  and  all  others  were  dropped.     The  Island  was  then 


simply  called  Puerto  Rico,  and  the  people  born  in  it  were 
called  Puerto-riqueTios.  By  saying  therefore  "Porto  Rico" 
and  "  Porto  Ricans,"  an  error  of  great  bnlk,  philological,  geo- 
graphical, historical  and  grammatical,  is  committed.  The 
hybrid  phrase  "  Porto  Rico,"  made  out  of  a  Portuguese  sub- 
stantive and  a  Spanish  adjective,  is  as  much  an  absurdity  as 
"  Nevvporto  "  instead  of  "  Newport  "  might  be. 

In  addition  to  what  might  be  called  the  rational  explanation 
of  the  subject,  there  is  also  the  law. 

By  order  of  President  Harrison,  September  4,  1890,  a 
"Board  on  Geographical  Names"  was  constituted  in  Wash- 
ington to  secure  "uniform  usage  in  regard  to  geographic 
nomenclature  and  orthography,"  and  the  "  decisions"  of  this 
Board  were  ordered  to  be  "accepted  by  the  Departments  as  the 
standard  authority  in  such  matters.'' 

That  Board  published  on  May  25,  1S91,  a  bulletin  contain- 
ing some  sensible  rules,  one  of  which  is  as  follows:  That 
"geographic  names  in  countries  that  use  Roman  characters 
should  be  rendered  iyi  the  form  adopted  by  the  country  having 
jurisdiction,  except  when  there  are  English  equivalents  already 
fixed  by  use." 

Under  this  rule  we  may  say  Marseilles  instead  of  Marseille, 
Antwerp  instead  of  Anvers,  and  Leghorn  instead  of  Ivivorno, 
etc.,  etc.,  but  we  cannot  say  Porto  Rico  instead  of  Puerto 
Rico. 

The  military  map  of  Puerto  Rico,  publi.shed  in  189S,  says: 
PrKRTo  Rico. 


34 
Note  No.  2. 

ON    THE    LAWFULNESS    OF    THE    REPRESENTATIVE 

CHARACTER  OF   THE    PUERTO    RICAN 

COMMISSIONERS. 

The  Washington  Evenhig  Star,  in  its  edition  of  the  8th  of 
May,  1899,  wishing  perhaps  to  undermine  the  position  upon 
which  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  have  stood  and  stand 
before  the  Government  and  the  people  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  take  away  from  them  that  prestige  to  which  they  are 
entitled,  and  injure  through  these  methods  the  success  of  their 
efforts,  although  that  success  when  achieved  will  certainly  re- 
dound much  more  in  honor  of  the  United  States  of  America 
than  of  Puerto  Rico,  who  only  asks  what  is  just  and  right, 
filled  about  one  column  on  its  first  page,  under  headings  calcu- 
lated to  catch  at  ouce  the  eyes  of  the  readers  and  poison  their 
minds  in  advance,  with  several  statements,  all  of  them  full  of 
errors,  about  Puerto  Rico,  and  the  following  charges  and  in- 
sinuations against  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners,  to  wit: 

1.  That  they  are  "self-constituted  Commissioners." 

2.  That  "  there  is  grave  doubt  in  the  mind  of  some  of  the 
officials  here  as  to  whether  the  so-called  Commissioners  from 
Puerto  Rico  represent  the  prevailing  sentiment  of  the  people 
of  the  island." 

3.  That  "there  also  seems  to  be  some  uncertainty  as  to  the 
source  of  appointment  of  the  Commissions." 

4.  And  that  "at  any  rate,  it  is  claimed  the  Commissions 
were  not  formed  with  the  consent  of  a  large  body  of  the  people. " 

The  publication  of  these  charges  and  insinuations  jointly 
with  some  other  utterances,  erroneous  in  point  of  law  not  less 
than  in  point  of  fact,  attributed  to  a  member  of  the  Puerto 
Rican  Insular  Commission,  revealed  at  once  the  purpose,  in 
this  case  a  very  unfair  one,  of  putting  the  whole  thing  under 
the  protection  of  a  name  belonging  to  official  circles,  sub 
umbra  magni  Jiojnifiis,  and  so  increase  the  bad  effect  sought  to 
be  produced  on  the  readers, 


35 

In  view  of  these  facts,  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners 
could  not  fail  to  stop  for  a  moment  and  seriously  consider 
what  was  meant  by  this  attack.  They  knew  perfectly  well 
that  their  official  standing  and  their  right  to  submit  to  the 
President  the  views  and  wishes  of  their  constituents  cannot  be 
affected  by  it;  but  they  knew  also  that  there  was  prudence  in 
looking  into  the  matter  and  seeing  whether  it  was  advisable  to 
make  some  effort  to  overcome  the  antagonism  now  encountered 
by  them. 

What  in  the  world  could  have  been  the  object  of  the  Star' s 
statements  of  May  8th,  1899  ?  What  was  to  be  gained  by  it  ? 
What  good  could  it  do  ?  Was  it,  perhaps,  an  expression  of  de- 
spite from  some  one  outside  the  paper  and  a  desperate  effort  to 
prevent  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  from  winning  a  case 
which,  through  the  impregnable  character  of  their  arguments, 
was  already  half  won?  Or  was  it,  perhaps—  and  this  was  much 
more  serious — that  the  ill-will  towards  Puerto  Rico  and  the 
Puerto  Ricans  is  carried  to  such  an  extent  by  the  Star,  or  by 
the  people  from  whom  it  derives  its  inspirations,  as  to  make 
them  wish  that  the  Puerto  Rican  people  should  be  stripped 
even  of  the  right,  recognized  without  difficulty  to  the  uncivil- 
ized Indians  of  the  United  States,  of  sending  representatives 
to  set  forth  before  the  Washington  Government  their  griev- 
ances and  their  wishes? 

But  as  the  powers  of  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  were 
presented  by  them  to  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States 
of  America  and  as  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica, upon  the  presentation  and  examination  of  those  credentials, 
was  pleased  to  grant  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners*  the 

*The  following  letter  explains  itself  sufficiently: 

"Executive  Mansion, 

Washington,  January  20,  1899. 
"Dr.  J.  Juuo  Henna, 

The  Arlington,   Washington  D.  C. 
"Dear  Sir  :  The  Secretary  of  State  directs  me  to  say  that  the  Presi- 
dent will  be  pleased  to  see  you  at  the  Executive  Mansion  this  afternoon 
at  2.30  Very  respectfully  yours, 

Benj.  F,  Montgomery." 


36 

honor  of  being  received  by  him,  and  lias  heard  them  not  once  or 
twice,  but  as  many  times  as  have  been  necessary,  the  conchi- 
sion  was  forced  upon  the  minds  of  the  Puerto  Rican  Commis- 
sioners that  ignoring  the  attack  was  perhaps  the  best  course 
to  be  followed  by  them. 

It  is  due  nevertheless  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  that 
something  should  be  said  on  the  subject. 

Commissioner  Don  Eugenio  M.  Hostos,  who  signed  the 
first  communication  to  the  President  and  had  the  honor  to 
confer  with  him  personally  on  the  subject  of  his  mission,  was 
elected  by  acclamation  at  a  mass  meeting  held  at  San  Juan, 
the  capital  of  Puerto  Rico,  under  the  very  eyes  of  General 
Henry.  The  election  was  the  result  of  an  outburst  of  patriotic 
feeling,  which  became  uncontrolable.  Some  one  in  the  audi- 
ence asked  the  people  whether  they  knew  the  man  whom  he 
pointed  at  with  his  finger,  and  when  the  fact  was  known  that 
that  man  was  HoSTOS,  a  deafening  outcry  "  to  Washington, 
to  Washington."  "Commissioner,  Commissioner,"  immedi- 
atelv  followed.  Never  an  election  has  been  more  spontaneous 
or  unanimous. 

Commissioner  Hostos  represents  furthermore  the  city  and 
district  of  Ponce  and  the  City  Corporation  of  Juana  Diaz.  The 
people  of  Ponce  elected  him  at  a  largely  attended  public  meet- 
ing, and  the  City  Corporation  of  Juana  Diaz  gave  him  its 
power  of  attorney  to  come  to  Washington  and  represent  and 
defend  its  rights  and  interests.  He  also  represents  the  city 
and  district  of  Penuelas, 

Dr.  Zeno  Gandia  was  elected  by  the  people  of  Adjuntas 
on  November  15th,  1898,  and  subsequently  by  the  people  of 
Sabana  Grande.  His  credentials  are  signed  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  people,  and  are  countersigned  and  authenticated  re- 
spectively by  the  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Ponce,  by  Captain  P. 
Evans,  19th  Infantry,  U.  S.  A.,  the  highest  local  authority  of 
the  district,  and  by  Mr.  G.  B.  Cassatt,  Adjutant  General,  act- 
ing by  order  of  Col.  Burker,  Military  Commander  of  the  District, 

Dr.  Henna  was  elected  together  with  Commissioner  HosTOS 


to  represent  Ponce  and  its  district,  the  City  Council  of  Juana 
Diaz,  and  the  city  and  district  of  Pennelas. 

To  the  determination  of  the  point,  whether  powers  of  attor- 
ney, or  credentials  by  which  an  envoy  of  whatsoever  kind  is  ac- 
credited, are  or  are  not  good  and  in  due  form,  there  are  no 
more  than  two  parties,  to  wit:  the  envoy  himself  and  the  per- 
son or  autliority  near  whom  he  comes  accredited.  The  at- 
tempt of  any  outsider  to  pass  opinion  on  the  subject  is  merely 
intrusion. 

As  to  the  point  whether  the  Puerto  Rican  Conimi.ssioners 
represent,  or  not,  the  prevailing  sentiment  of  the  people  of  the 
island,  the  Puerto  Rican  people  themselves  shall  give  the 
proper  answer. 


Note  No.  3. 
ON  MILITARY  RULE. 

Statements  made  by  Major-General  Guy  V.  Henry,  Ex- 
Military  Governor  of  Puerto  Rico. 

L 
In  General  Orders  i.ssued  by  General  Henry  at  San  Juan  de 
Puerto  Rico  April  6th,  1899,  ^^e  expressed  himself  as  follows: 

"  It  is  not  believed  that  any  thought  of  determined  opposi- 
tion to  law  and  order  exists  in  Puerto  Rico,  but  should  such 
be  the  truth  iT  would  be  crushed  at  once,  and  would 

PROVE   TO    BE   suicide   OF   THE   ISLAND."  ' 

II. 

In  an  interview  held  with  General  Henry  on  the  17th  of 
May,  1899,  published  on  the  day  following,  by  the  Washing- 
ton Post,  he  said: 

"To  one  man  who  came  from  Adjuntas  to  tell  me  of  an 
uprising  I  said  :  '  Go  back  to  x\djuntas  and  dig  isiany  gravies. 
Rise  to-morrow,  and   I  shall   order   out  the   American 

SOLDIERS    TO   SHOOT    THE    PUERTO    RiCANS    DOWN    AND    FILL 

THOSE  GRAVES.'     He  went  home,  and  telegraphed  later  that 
there  would  be  no  massacre." 


38 


Note  No.  4. 
ON  THE  MILITIA. 


PUERTO    RICO    COMMISSION 
TO  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Washington  D.  C,  Februar}'  10,  1899. 

To  THE  Hon.  Russeli.  A.  Ai.ger, 

Secretary  of  War,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Sir  : 

la  compliance  with  your  request,  as  expressed  at  our  inter- 
view on  Jan.  21,  inst.,  in  regard  to  the  reduction  of  the  mili- 
tary garrison  of  Puerto  Rico  to  a  force  sufficiently  large  for  all 
purposes,  we  beg  leave  to  submit  for  your  consideration  a  plan 
of  organization  which  will  be  most  welcome  to  our  people, 
efface  the  existing  friction  between  the  military  and  civil  ele- 
ments, and  ensure  perfect  harmony  and  fraternity  in  the 
future. 

It  were  perhaps  opportune  to  bear  in  mind  that  a  country 
which,  for  a  period  of  over  four  hundred  years,  has  been  sub- 
jected to  the  rigors  of  Spanish  military  government,  (in  all 
that  the  phrase  implies),  is  to  a  certain  extent  justified  in 
looking  upon  similar  organizations  with  sentiments  of  the 
greatest  displeasure,  distrust  and  anxiety,  unless  the  native 
element  should  be  allowed  and  called  upon  to  form  part. 

We  propose : 

First :  That  the  reduction  of  the  garrison  of  Puerto  Rico  be 
carried  out  in  the  proportion  of  300  men  for  every  one  of  the 
seven  departments,  making  a  total  of  2,100  men,  exclusive  of 
officers. 

Second :  That  the  ranks  be  filled  with  an  equal  number  of 
Americans  and  Puerto  Ricans. 

Third:  That  the  men  be  constantly  occupied  in  military 
evolutions  and  exercises,  in  order  that  idleness  should  not 
tempt  or  lead  them  into  acts  of  immorality  and  degradation. 

Such  a  plan  cannot  but  prove  most  productive  of  the  best 
results,  for  the  following  reasons  : 

First :  Becau.se  the  natives  of  Puerto  Rico  are  peacefully  in- 
clined, laborious,  obedient  to  law  and  easily  governed. 

Second :  Because  the  admission  of  the  natives  into  the  ranks, 
besides  demonstrating  in  a  practical  manner  the  good  will  and 
intentions  of  the  American  Government,  also  tends  to  raise 
them  from  the  state  of  subjection  in  which  they  were  kept  dur- 
ing the  most  cruel  and  despotic  of  Governments,  namely:  the 


39 

Spauish  military  government,  and  to  elevate  them  to  the  cate- 
gory of  citizens  on  an  equal  footing  with  their  comrades. 

Third  :  Because  b\'  keeping  them  constantly  occupied,  dis- 
cipline is  better  preserved  ;  acts  of  immorality  which  enforced 
idleness  engenders  will  be  prevented  and  a  high  degree  of  ex- 
emplary conduct  which  the  soldier  should  feel  proud  to  ob- 
serve will  be  reached. 

And,  finally,  because  such  a  plan  as  the  one  herein  submitted, 
besides  affording  our  young  men  an  opportunity  for  physical 
development  and  expansion  of  their  mental  faculties,  also  gives 
them  the  opportunity  tor  demonstrating  in  a  practical  manner 
the  high  appreciation  and  the  heartfelt  gratitude  in  which  the 
Puerto  Ricans  hold  the  magnanimity  and  justice  shown  us  by 
the  Americans. 

Respectfully  submitted  by  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners. 

J.  Julio  Henna.     Eugenio  M.  Hostos.     M.  Zeno  Gandia. 


Note  No.  5. 

MONETARY  PROBLEM. 

To  His  Excellency  William  McKinley, 

President  of  the  United  States, 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  D.  C: 

The  Redemption  of  the  Currency  of   Puerto  fiico. 

This  question,  which  is  of  vital  interest  to  the  people  of 
Puerto  Rico,  needs  a  prompt  solution.  It  is  not  only  a  matter 
of  political  economy,  but  of  social  importance  as  well. 

Neither  the  Puerto  Ricans  nor  those  who  are  in  commercial 
relations  with  them  are  exempted  from  suffering  the  prejudicial 
effects  of  the  monetary  anarchy  existing  at  present  in  the  island. 

There  is  in  circulation  at  the  present  mcmient  a  "peso,"  or 
dollar,  of  less  intrinsic  value  than  is  attributed  to  it,  and  there 
are  approximately  60,000,000  "  pesos  "  in  .standing  debts  which 


40 

must  be  redeemed,  subject  to  the  diflference  of  value  between 
the  United  States  gold  dollar  and  the  said  "  peso." 

This  want  of  an  established  monetary'  standard  is  not  new  to 
us;  its  frequency  has  become  historical.  The  same  factors, 
influenced  by  identical  causes  and  by  the  lack  of  foresight  of 
the  Spanish  Government,  have  been  instrumental  in  producing 
repeatedly  the  same  identical  results  during  a  century  at  least. 
Business  relations  have  been  neither  equitable  nor  regulated 
by  the  laws  of  social  economy;  they  have  always  marked  the 
existence  of  a  struggle  between  classes,  in  which  the  greed  of 
speculation  has  not  been  the  least  blamable  factor. 

In  the  year  1813  a  paper  currency  existed  in  the  island 
whose  value  became  so  unstable  that  it  was  found  necessary  to 
substitute  it  for  another  kind  of  legal  tender.  We  could  en- 
large upon  this  theme,  were  it  so  desired,  but  suffice  it  to  say 
that  this  conversion  of  the  currency  caused  the  island  to  sus- 
tain a  loss  of  12  per  cent.  The  war  of  independence  and  the 
separation  from  the  mother  country  of  the  South  American 
Republics  occurred  at  that  time.  The  immigrants  from  those 
countries  introduced  into  the  island  of  Puerto  Rico  the  so- 
called  "  Macuquina  "  currency,  the  admittance  and  circulation 
of  which  were  permitted  by  the  Spanish  Government. 

This  new  kind  of  currency  was  very  irregular  in  form.  It 
consisted  of  shapeless  pieces  of  gold  and  silver  whose  values 
were  uncertain  and  which,  little  by  little,  were  reduced  in  size 
by  the  pilfering  action  of  speculators,  so  much  so  that  their 
circulation  became  an  imposition  and  a  scandal.  In  1840  a 
new  conversion  of  the  currency  was  made  by  the  Government, 
and  the  "  Macuquina"  coins  gave  place  to  the  legal  tender  of 
Spain.  This  conversion  was  followed  by  period  of  calm  which 
seemed  to  indicate  that  this  question  had  found  a  satisfactory 
solution.  The  establishment  of  a  monetary  system  or  standard 
which  would  prove  a  guarantee  to  business  and  to  commercial 
enterprise  became  then  possible.  But  nothing  was  done. 
There  were  in  circulation,  as  legal  tenders  with  identical  val- 


4' 

lies  the  Spanish  "peso,"  the  Aiuericau  "dollar,''  and  the 
French  "napoleon,''  and,  as  the  tendency  was  to  consider 
the  island  as  transitory  ground  for  speculation,  many  capi- 
talists, taking  advantage  of  the  "at  par"  rate  of  exchange, 
withdrew  their  funds. 

The  island  found  itself  at  that  moment  nearly  destitute  of 
currenci'.  The  crisis  became  general.  In  1S73  slavery  was 
abolished  and  it  was  decided  that  the  payment  of  the  indemni- 
fication ordered  should  be  made  by  the  Treasury  of  Puerto 
Rico.  To  this  end  the  Government  created  what  were  called 
"abolition  bonds, "  and  these  were  given  in  payment  to  the 
former  slave-owners. 

These  bonds  became  depreciated,  because  of  the  irregularity 
with  which  they  were  redeemed. 

Later  on  a  certain  number  of  the  bondholders  founded  the 
"  Banco  Espaiiol,"  a  privileged  institution  located  at  San  Juan. 
The  majority  of  them  accepted  the  proposition  of  a  European 
syndicate  and  received  in  return  for  their  depreciated  bonds  a 
certain  amount  of  money  in  Mexican  dollars. 

This  which  took  place  in  1878,  coinciding  with  the  general 
silver  crisis,  created  in  the  island  a  continually  unsettled  state 
ill  business  enterprises.  The  capricious  fluctuations  of  the 
rates  of  exchange  were  more  often  produced  by  the  secret 
influences  of  monopolies  than  by  logical  causes  increased  the 
evil. 

The  bad  effect  of  these  abnormal  conditions  was  felt  most 
injuriously,  first,  by  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  island — 
almost  the  only  source  of  wealth — and,  secondly,  by  the  people, 
the  long-suff"ering  people,  who,  surrounded  by  most  pressing 
wants,  bent  still  under  the  weight  of  this  situation. 

The  use  of  the  Mexican  "  peso  '  in  business  operations  pre- 
sented many  difficulties,  the  details  of  which  can  be  given  if 
necessary,  and  when  its  further  circulation  became  impossible 
and  rendered  a  new  conversion  imperative  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernment directed  its  withdrawal  in  a  manner  most  ruinous  to 


42 

the  country.  This  happened  in  1895  and  the  island  suffered  a 
loss  of  5  per  cent,  by  this  fourth  conversion. 

The  march  of  events  has  placed  our  country  under  military 
occupation  by  the  United  States,  and  we  find  ourselves  again 
face  to  face  with  another  necessary  conversion  of  the  currency. 

We  have,  therefore,  undergone  for  a  century  serious  eco- 
nomical disturbances,  and  our  country  asks  that  this  problem 
be  given  immediate  attention  and  definite  solution. 

Justice,  equity,  and  a  sincere  aspiration  to  the  future  welfare 
of  our  countr)'^  are  the  elements  upon  which  the  solution  of 
this  monetary  problem  should  be  based. 

To  the  special  "  peso  "  of  Puerto  Rico  the  Spanish  Govern- 
ment gave  an  arbitrary  value  of  100  cents,  and  while  imposing 
it  upon  us  it  refused  to  guarantee  its  face  value  and  prohib- 
ited its  circulation  in  Spain. 

There  are  some  among  our  people  who  are  of  the  opinion 
and  claim  that  the  United  States  Government  should  fix  at 
6673  cents  the  value  of  said  "peso."  This  value  they  calculate 
from  the  average  rates  of  exchange  which  have  prevailed  in  the 
island  from  1891  to  1897,  omitting  the  rate  of  exchange  of  1898, 
alleging  that  it  was  an  abnormal  year.  To  do  this  they  aver- 
age the  rates  of  exchange  corresponding  to  the  Mexican 
"peso"  up  to  1895  and  of  the  Puerto  Rican  '"peso''  from  that 
date  to  1897. 

Others  believe  that  the  "peso"  should  have  no  other  value 
than  that  which  it  represents  intrinsically. 

We  believe  that  the  face  value  of  100  cents  given  it  by  the 
Spanish  Government  should  be  repudiated  as  unjust,  and  that 
the  Puerto  Rican  "peso"  cannot  have  a  conventional  value, 
because  it  is  not  guaranteed  by  any  nation.  Again,  because 
the  value  of  said  "  peso  "  cannot  be  based  upon  the  "  average 
rates  of  exchange  ''  during  the  years  already  mentioned  :  First, 
because  it  has  been  in  circulation  only  since  1895;  second,  be- 
cause the  Mexican  "  peso,''  which  represented  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent value,  circulated  previous  to  that  date;  third,  because 


43 

to  arrive  at  an  equitable  calculation  of  the  average  rate  of 
exchange  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  accept  an  average  cal- 
culated upon  different  rates  of  exchange  of  two  unequal  cur- 
rencies, the  Puerto  Rican  "peso"  being  worth  5  cents  less 
than  the  Mexican  "peso;"  fourth,  because  even  though  an 
average  between  these  two  were  found  it  would  not  do  away 
with  their  actual  difference  in  value  such  as  represented  outside 
the  island.  From  this  we  conclude  that  an  average  rate  of 
exchange  based  upon  the  heterogeneous  values  of  the  several 
coins  can  not  be  a  judicious  evaluation,  nor  one  founded 
upon  truth  and  justice. 

We  believe  that  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  special  "  peso  "  of 
Puerto  Rico  is  the  only  just  one,  since  it  is  the  true  one,  and 
justice  ever  seeks  the  truth. 

It  is  self  evident  that  when  a  responsible  and  well-governed 
nation  guarantees  its  currency  the  said  currency  can  be  given 
a  pureh'  nominal  value,  at  all  times  redeemable  by  the  Treas- 
ury ;  but  when  these  essentials  to  a  stable  currency  do  not 
exist,  it  can  be  affirmed  that,  as  the  latter  is  nothing  but  an 
instrument  of  exchange  between  individuals  of  a  nation  as  well 
as  between  different  nations,  its  value  should  not  be  made  de- 
pendant upon  caprice,  but  upon  the  actual  estimated  worth  of 
its  component  metals.  However  deplorable  the  condition  of  a 
countr}'  may  be  its  currency  should  never  be  given  a  face 
value  greater  than  its  real  value  unless  it  is  guaranteed  by  the 
government;  otherwise  the  forcible  elevation  in  value  must  ter- 
minate in  disastrous  bankruptcy.  In  such  a  state  of  financial 
unsteadiness  the  one  who  owes  fails  to  pay,  though  he  may 
appear  to  do  so,  and  every  honest  citizen  becomes  guilty  of 
a  bad  and  dangerous  action,  disturbs  all  legal  business  tran- 
sactions and  causes  many  other  evils  without  deriving  there- 
from any  thing  but  discredit. 

If  the  Government  over  which  your  Kxcellency  presides 
desires  to  show  us  some  regard  by  giving  solution  to  the 
monetary   problem   of   Puerto  Rico,  we  would   earnestly  ask 


44 

that  the  following  circumstances  should  be  taken  into  consid- 
eration: 

First.  That  the  value — loo  cents — being  but  arbitrary,  can- 
not serve  as  a  factor  in  the  final  settlement. 

Second.  That  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  special  "peso,''  esti- 
mated at  between  41  and  42  cents,  is  the  only  one  which,  in 
absolute  fairness,  can  serve  as  a  factor  in  the  settlement. 

Third.  That  the  conventional  value  of  6623  cents,  which 
some  people  advocate,  ought  also  to  be  considered  as  a  factor. 

And  whereas  a  settlement  does  not  mean  the  sacrifice  of  all 
opinions  to  an  ideal  of  justice,  whether  real  or  imaginary,  but 
in  fact  represents  mutual  concession,  each  party  yielding  to  the 
other  until  a  point  of  reciprocal  agreement  is  reached,  we  beg 
to  propose  that  the  solution  of  the  currency  problem  of  Puerto 
Rico  be  obtained  by 

First.  Officially  determining  and  fixing  the  intrinsic  value  of 
the  special  "  peso*" 

Second.  Adopting  as  comparative  factor  the  value— 66=3 
cents — desired  by  the  adherents  of  the  conventional  value. 

Third.  Establishing  an  average  value  between  the  intrinsic 
and  the  conventional  ones. 

We  also  beg  to  propose  that  the  value  thus  found  be  adopted 
as  a  basis  for  the  payment  of  all  the  outstanding  debts  in  the 
island. 

Respectfully  submitted  by  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners. 

M.  Zeno  Gandia.     Eugexio  M.  Hostos.    J.  Julio  Henna. 
Washington,  D.  C,  January  19,  1899. 


45 

NoTii  No.    6, 
ON  BANKS  AND  BANKING. 


PUERTO    RICO    COMMISSION 
TO  THE   UNITED  STATES. 

Washington,  D.  C,  February  lo,  1899. 

To  THE  Hon.  Lyman  J.  Gage, 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury: 

wSir: 

The  undersigned,  member.s  of  the  Puerto  Rico  Commission 
to  the  United  States,  respectfully  submit  for  your  kind  con- 
sideration the  following  Memorandum,  in  the  hope  that  you 
will  lend  us  your  moral  support,  in  aiding  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  to  grant  to  the  people  we  have  the  honor  to 
represent  what  is  here  petitioned. 

The  decline  of  the  Island  of  Puerto  Rico  is  in  a  great  meas- 
ure due  to  its  present  system  of  onerous  loans.  An  Island, 
the  actual  cultivated  area  of  which  scarcely  represents  one- 
twentieth  part  of  its  productive  zone,  and  which  reckons 
$17,000,000  of  yearly  exports,  is  bound  to  become  the  richest 
producing  land  on  earth.  But  in  order  to  achieve  this,  facilities 
ill  the  shape  of  Loaning  Institutions,  similar  to  those  existing  in 
the  United  States,  must  necessarily  be  established.  The  farmer 
should  not,  as  he  does  at  the  present  time,  refrain  from  raising 
a  loan,  for  fear  of  being  in  the  end  ruined,  or  dispo.sse.sscd  by 
the  loaning  institution.  With  proper  facilities,  Puerto  Rico 
can  produce  $300,000,000  a  year. 

It  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  Banking  Institutions  and  a 
well  known  and  established  fact  that  a  loan  on  the  simple 
guarantee  of  a  good  signature  (an  absolute  credit)  means  a 
"risk."  which  can  only  be  assumed  by  the  lender  in  consider- 
ation of  a  larger  or  higher  rate  of  interest  ;  whereas  l)orrowing 
on  "  mortgage  security,"  involving  but  ver}'  little  risk,  if  any. 


46 

can  readily  be  granted,  and  at  a  considerable  lower  rate  of  in- 
terest. But  in  Puerto  Rico  it  is  the  very  opposite,  two  signatures 
of  well  known  persons  being  generally  preferred  to  a  mortgage 
security.  Institutions  for  loaning  have  been  established  in  the 
Island  at  different  epochs,  but  the  majority  of  them  only  loaned 
money  for  commercial  transactions;  while  others  limited  their 
operations  to  the  monopoly  of  foreign  exchange,  or  would  not 
make  loans  except  to  the  rich  agriculturists.  The  few  that 
extended  their  operations  to  the  smaller  farmers  only  did  so 
under  such  stringent  and  exacting  terms  which  almost  defeated 
their  object.  This  state  of  things  compelled  the  farmers  to 
seek  for  loans  elsewhere.  Private  lenders  were  called  upon, 
but  with  no  better  results.  In  the  majority  of  cases  these  new 
species  of  loaning  concerns,  called  "  Refaccionistas, "  rather 
than  improve  the  condition  of  the  farmers  drove  them  to  in- 
evitable ruin.  The  periods  of  instalments  were  purposely 
made  so  short  that  scarcely  any  time  was  allowed  for  gathering 
the  crop  before  the  obligation  fell  due.  The  interest  charged 
was  from  12  to  30  per  cent.  As  a  guarantee  for  the  prompt 
payment  of  the  debt,  mortgages  on  the  property  were  given, 
but  so  curiously  and  craftily  were  the  deeds  drawn  and  worded 
that  the  failure  to  pay  the  interest  and  instalment  of  the 
first  year  gave  the  lender  (Refaccionista)  the  right  to  consider 
the  other  instalments  also  due.  The  farmer  was  brought  before 
a  Judge  on  foreclosure  proceedings,  and  then  and  there  sum- 
marily dispossessed  of  his  property.  Other  "  Refaccionistas" 
demanded  and  obtained  as  guarantee  for  the  faithful  payment 
of  the  loan  a  bill  or  deed  of  trust  on  the  property,  and  until  the 
last  instalment  was  paid  the  lender  (Refaccionista)  figured  as 
the  real  owner  of  the  property.  Still  some  others  actually  ob- 
tained an  actual  bill  of  sale  of  the  property,  the  farmer  giving 
besides  a  promissory  note  for  money  loaned  him  to  cultivate 
a  land  that  would  not  revert  to  him  until  the  money  was  paid 
back,  and  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  property  never  again 
returned  to  his  possession.     A  careful  search  of  the  Notarial 


47 

archives  will  readily  reveal  aiul  corroborate  this  most  cruel  ami 
ruinous  state  of  things. 

The  Colonial  administrative  regime  being  founded  on  usury, 
many  an  usurer  took  shelter  under  and  found  support  iu  its 
obnoxious  example. 

This  state  of  things  unquestionably  suggests  the  necessity  of 
establishing  in  the  Island  Agricultural  Banks — banks  that  will 
loan  money  on  easy  terms  and  at  fair  rates  of  interest,  without 
limiting  their  operations  to  the  larger  farmers,  but  with  equal 
regard  for  the  smaller  ones.  Also,  National  Banks,  for  the 
promotion  of  business  and  industrial  enterprises,  with  a  fixed 
rate  of  interest. 

For  the  above  reasons  we  ask:  that  the  Federal  Banking 
Laws  be  without  delay  made  extensive  to  our  Island,  as  the 
fundamental  law  within  which  all  classes  of  credit  institutions 
may  be  freely  established. 

Respectfully  submitted  by  the  Puerto  Rico  Commissioners. 

M.  Zknto  Gandia.     Eugenio  M,  Hostos.     J.  Julio  Hjcnna. 


48 


Note  No.  7. 
ON  TAXATION  AND  PUBLIC  INSTRUCTION. 

Although  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  believed,  and 
still  continue  to  believe,  that  the  matters  of  taxation  and 
public  instruction  fall  under  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the 
people  of  the  Island,  and  are  absolutely  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  military  authorities,  they  thought  it  advisable  to  address 
to  the  Secretary  of  War  the  two  following  letters.  Their 
object  was  to  show  that  the  measures  referred  to  by  them  in 
their  letters  are  urgent,  and  that  it  is  the  duty  as  well  as  the 
interest  of  the  American  Government  to  do  something  at  once 
on  these  subjects: 


PUERTO    RICO   COMMISSION 
TO  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Washington,  D.  C,  February  10,  1899. 

To  THE  Hon.  Russell  A.  Alger, 

Secretary  of  War,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Sir: 

The  undersigned,  Commissioners  of  the  Puerto  Rican  people, 
beg  leave  to  submit  to  Your  Excellency  this  memorandum 
relating  to  taxation  in  the  Island  of  Puerto  Rico. 

The  system  of  taxation  established  in  the  Island  under  the 
Spanish  regime,  and  which  is  still  in  operation,  is  nothing  more 
than  a  measure  for  deliberate  spoliation.  Apart  from  the 
custom  duties  and  other  numerous  exactions,  there  exists  also 
what  is  called  the  "territorial  tax,"  which  is  ruinous  to  the 
agricultural  interests  of  the  Island,  as  it  is  levied  on  the  in- 
come, not  on  the  value  of  the  property. 

This  territorial  tax  was  devised  for  the  purpose  of  finding 
out  the  exact  income  of  every  taxpayer,  without  regard  to  the 
value  of  the  property  that  produces  it,  whether  real,  industrial 
or  otherwise.     This  income  on  which  a  percentage  is  levied  is 


49 

called  by  the  people  "  rcnta  iniponible,''  which  means  in 
ICiig'lish  "taxable  income." 

This  system  of  taxation,  unjust,  uncertain  and  onerous, 
positively  curtails  the  expansion  of  production.  So  ruinous 
has  this  method  proven  to  the  agricultural  interests,  that 
scarcely  one-twentieth  of  the  productive  zone  in  the  Island  is 
cultivated.  It  tends,  furthermore,  to  corrupt  the  morals  of 
our  people,  by  tempting  them  to  conceal  their  real  income  and 
its  sources  of  production,  and  to  bribe  the  collectors,  as  it  is 
often  done. 

In  order  to  avoid  the  further  ruin  of  our  agricultural  inter- 
ests and  contribute  to  the  enlargement  of  our  field  of  produc- 
tion, which  is  the  principal  base  of  our  income  and  our  wealth, 
we  ask : 

That  taxes  be  levied  on  the  value  of  the  property,  and  not  on 
its  products.  When  this  is  granted  it  will  become  necessary  to 
ascertair,  the  amount  and  value  of  the  existing  property  by 
establishing  a  Taxation  Bureau  which  shall  proceed  to  the 
careful  organization  and  re-adjustmcnt  of  the  property  to 
be  assessed. 

We  are  aware  that  this  reform  belongs  more  properly  to  and 
is  one  of  the  attributes  of  the  municipal  bodies  in  the  Island, 
but  unless  you  are  pleased  to  recommend  and  direct  that  it  be 
introduced  without  delay,  we  have  reasons  to  believe  that  such 
an  important  step  will  be  further  neglected. 

Respectfully  submitted  by  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners, 

J.  Julio  Henna.     M.  Zeno  Gandia.     Eugenic  M.  HOvSTOs. 


II. 

ON  PUBLIC  INSTRUCTION. 

PUERTO    RICO    COMMISSION 
TO  THE   UNITED  STATES. 

Washington,  I).  C,  February,  lo,  1899. 

To  the  Hon.  RuSvSKix  A.   At.ger, 

Secretary  op  War,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Sir  : 

The  undersigned  members  of  the  Puerto  Rican  Commission 
to  the  United  States  respectfully  submit  for  your  consideration 
the  following: 

Fully  in  accord  with  the  able  and  exhaustive  report  of  Capt. 
Gardner  to  the  War  Department  on  Educational  problems  in 
Puerto  Rico,  which  varies  very  little  with  our  own  observa- 
tions and  data,  we  come  to  suggest  a  plan  of  reorganization  of 
the  school  system,  which,  if  acceptable  to  you,  and  to  the 
Government,  might  be  at  once  forwarded,  with  the  necessary 
instructions  for  speedj^  action,  to  our  Governor-General. 

Taking  into  consideration  the  population  of  each  of  the 
seven  departments  in  which  the  Island  of  Puerto  Rico  is 
divided,  we  find  that  the  various  schools  should  be  located  as 
follows  : 

I  Kindergarten  at  each  Capital  of  Department. 

I  Public  School  at  each  one  of  the  73  towns. 

I  male  and  i  female  Normal-School  at  Ponce,  and 

I  male  and  i  female  Normal-School  at  Mayaguez. 

1  School  of  Medicine  and  i  L,aw  School  at  Rio 

Piedras. 

2  Schools   of  Agriculture,    one    at    Arecibo,   the 

other  at  Adjuntas. 
I  Manual  Training  School  at  either  Guayama  or 
Ponce, 


5> 

Total  :     7  Kindergartens. 
73  Public  Schools. 
4  Normal  Schools. 
I  School  of  Medicine. 

1  Law  School. 

2  Schools  of  Agriculture. 

I  Manual  Training  School. 

We  will  also  petition  that  the  attendance  to  Public  vSchools 
be  made  compulsory  between  the  ages  of  5  and  14  years.  That 
the  hours  of  attendance  be  fixed  from  8  to  i :  a.  m.  and  2  to 
4  V.  M.,  except  Thursdays  afternoon.  That  during  the  rainy 
season  attendance  should  be  limited  to  only  the  morning 
hours,  except  during  the  month  of  August,  which  shall  be  a 
month  of  vacation  and  complete  rest. 

Our  experience  has  taught  us  that  in  the  warm  climates  the 
suspension  of  all  occupations  during  the  warmest  hours  of  the 
day,  between  11  a.  m.  and  2  p.  m.,  tends  greatly  to  the  preser- 
vation of  good  health,  and  that  the  native  children  can  stand 
a  long  uninterrupted  school  season  much  better  than  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Northern  climates. 

Respectfully  submitted  by  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners. 

EuGENio  M.  HosTos.     J.  Julio  Henna.     M.  Zeno  Gandia. 


52 

NoTK  No    8. 
THE  PUERTO  RICAN  TARIFF. 

[Submitted  to  the  New  York  Cliaiiiber  of  Commerce.] 

A  proper  study  of  the  customs  laws,  which  the  President  of 
the  United  States  in  his  capacity  of  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States  has  been  pleased  to  en- 
force in  Puerto  Rico,  gives  rise  to  the  following  questions  : 

Had  the  President  any  legal  authority  to  enact  such  laws? 
Are  those  laws  constitutional  ?  Is  it  not  in  the  interest  of  both 
the  United  States  and  Puerto  Rico  that  those  laws  be  at  once 
repealed  ? 

It  is  submitted  respectfully  : 

1 .  That  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America  had  no 
authority  on  August  19th,  1898,  to  enact  and  promulgate,  as 
he  did,  a  Customs  Tariff  and  Rules  for  the  collection  of  duties, 
etc.,  etc.,  for  the  island  of  Puerto  Rico. 

2.  That  the  President  had  no  authority  on  the  20th  of  January, 
1899,  to  enact  and  promulgate,  as  he  did,  the  "Amended  Cus- 
toms Tariff  and  Regulations  for  ports  in  Puerto  Rico,"  or  to 
enact  and  promulgate  thereafter  the  numerous  amendments 
made  to  said  Tariff. 

3.  That  the  President  had  no  authority,  subsequent  to  the 
promulgation  of  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Spain  on  April  nth, 
1899,  when  the  state  of  war  ceased  and  Puerto  Rico  became 
de  jure  an  integral  part  of  the  American  territory,  to  retain  in 
operation  the  said  Amended  Customs  Tariff  or  any  of  its  amend- 
ments. 

4.  That  by  keeping  in  force  in  Puerto  Rico  the  said  Amended 
Customs  Tariff  of  January  20th,  1898,  and  its  numerous  sub- 
sequent modifications,  the  principles  and  doctrines  of  true  pro- 
tection and  the  just  traditional  aspirations  of  the  Puerto  Rican 
people  have  been  disregarded. 


53 
I. 

On  the  19th  of  August,  1898,  vvlien  the  first  Puerto  Rican 
Tariif  was  promulgated,  Puerto  Rico  was  not  as  yet  a  part  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  and  the  President  of  tlie  United 
States  of  America  had  not  therefore  any  right  to  legislate  in 
any  capacity  at  all  on  any  matter  concerning  that  island. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  said  : 

"  The  capture  and  occupation  of  Tampico  by  the  arms  of  the 
United  States,  during  the  war  with  Mexico,  though  sufficient 
to  cause  it  to  be  regarded  by  other  nations  as  a  part  of  our  ter- 
ritory, did  not  make  it  a  part  of  the  United  States  under  our 
Constitution  and  laws;  it  remained  a  foreign  country  within 
the  meaning  of  the  revenue  laws  of  the  United  States." 

Fleming  vs.  Page,  9  Howard,  603. 

Strike  otit  the  words  Tampico  and  Mexico,  and  replace  them 
by  Puerto  Rico  and  Spain,  respectively,  and  the  case  is  ad- 
judged. 

If  Puerto  Rico  was  a  foreign  country,  as  it  was  under  the 
above  decision,  on  August  19,  1898,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  could  not  legitimately  exercise  over  it  legislative 
jurisdiction. 

It  might  be  said  in  extenuation  of  the  undue  assumption  of 
power  which  is  now  under  consideration,  that  under  the  Peace 
Protocol  of  August,  12,  1898,  seven  days  before  the  promul- 
gation of  the  tariff  in  question,  Spain  agreed  to  cede  Puerto 
Rico  to  the  United  States  at  some  future  time,  she  was  guarded 
enough  not  to  specify.  But  the  answer  could  be  retidily  given 
that  the  phrase  used  by  Spain  and  accepted  by  the  United 
States  of  America,  "Spain  will  cede,"  did  not  convey  to  the 
United  States  of  America  any  rights  on  Puerto  Rico.  "Spain 
will  cede"  is  something  very  different  from  "Spain  cedes"  or 
"Spain  does  hereby  cede,"  and  merely  means  the  intention, 
or  the  readiness,  on  the  part  of  Spain,  to  make  the  cession  of 
the  island  some  time  in  the  future. 


It  might  be  said,  perhaps,  that  the  phrase,  such  as  written, 
implies  a  promise  by  Spain  to  cede  Puerto  Rico  to  the  United 
States  of  America;  but  the  difference  existing  between  a  prom- 
ise to  cede  and  an  actual  cession  does  not  need  to  be  explained. 
Neither  sovereignty,  nor  jurisdiction,  nor  any  right  whatever 
can  be  conveyed  from  a  state  to  another,  or  from  a  person  to 
another  by  a  promise  of  this  kind.  It  is  a  matter  of  history 
that  this  promise  was  not  only  not  made  upon  sufiicient  con- 
sideration, but  under  compulsion. 

The  diplomatic  record  of  the  transaction  shows  that  when 
the  Government  of  Spain,  through  the  authorized  channel  of 
its  Minister  of  State,  Duke  of  Almodovar  del  Rio,  directly  in- 
quired from  President  McKinley.  on  July  22nd,  1898,  "upon 
which  conditions  the  present  struggle  could  be  terminated 
otherwise  than  by  force  of  arms," — the  President  replied, 
through  Mr.  William  R.  Day,  Secretary  of  State,  July  30th, 
1898, — that  Spain  had  to  relinquish  all  claim  of  sovereignty 
over  or  title  to  Cuba,  and  immediately  evacuate  the  island, — 
and  that  he  (the  President)  being  desirous  of  exhibiting  signal 
generosity,  instead  of  putting  forward  a  demand  for  pecuniary 
indemnity,  would  content  himself  with  requiring  the  cession  to 
the  United  States  and  the  immediate  evacuation  by  Spain  of 
the  Island  of  Puerto  Rico,  and  some  other  islands: — that  in 
reply  to  this  statement,  Spain  said,  on  the  7th  of  August 
following,  by  letter  not  to  the  President  McKinley,  but  to  Mr. 
Day,  that  the  President's  demand  expelled  her  at  once  from 
the  prosperous  island  of  Puerto  Rico;  that  '  'it  might  perhaps 
have  been  possible  to  compensate  by  some  other  cession  for  the 
injuries  sustained  by  the  United  States;"  but  that,  notwithstand- 
ing all  this,  Spain  being  compelled  by  the  inflexibility  of  the 
demand  would  submit  to  it  and  cede  Puerto  Rico  and  the  other 
desired  islands  to  the  United  States  of  America : — that  on  the 
1 2th  of  the  same  month  of  August,  1898,  a  protocol  of  agree- 
ment between  the  United  States  and  Spain  was  signed  at 
Washington,  by  Mr.  William  R.  Day,  representing  the  United 


55 

States,  and  Mr.  Jules  Camboii,  Ainl)assa(lor  of  France  in 
Washington,  representing  vSpain  :— and  that  Article  II  of 
said  protocol  reads  as  follows:  "Spain  will  cede  to  the  United 
States  the  Island  of  Puerto  Rico." 

As  stated  before,  these  words  "will  cede,"  written  on  the 
1 2th  of  August,  1898,  cannot  be  tortured  by  any  method  of 
interpretation  whatever  into  an  actual  conveyance  of  title. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  declared  that 
"  the  holding  of  a  conquered  territory  is  regarded  as  a  mere 
military  occupation  until  its  fate  shall  be  determined  by  the 
treaty  of  peace."  American  Insurance  Co.  vs.  Canter,  i, 
Peters,  511. 

Tlie  promise  of  Spain  to  cede  to  the  United  States  at  some 
future,  not  specified,  time  the  island  of  Puerto  Rico,  did  not 
change  the  purely  military  character  of  the  occupation  of  the 
island  by  the  United  States  on  August  19,  1898,  and  did  not 
vest  upon  the  President  any  authority  to  exercise  over  that 
island  sovereign  jurisdiction. 

The  case  of  California  in  1847  might  be  cited,  however, 
in  an  attempt  to  justify  the  action  of  the  United  States  in  re- 
gard to  Puerto  Rico,  at  the  time  and  under  the  circumstances 
to  which  reference  is  herein  made.  But  the  attempt  would  be 
fruitless. 

It  is  true  that  the  port  of  San  Francisco  was  conquered  by  the 
United  States  as  early  as  1 846,  that  shortly  afterwards  the  United 
States  had  military  possession  of  tlie  whole  Upper  California,  and 
that  early  in  1847  the  President,  as  Constitutional  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  theArmy  and  Navy,  authorized  the  military  and 
naval  commanders  of  the  American  forces  at  California  to  exer- 
cise the  belligerant  rights  of  a  conqueror,  and  to  form  a 
CIVIL  GOVERNMENT  FOR  THE  CONQUERED  COUNTRY  (what  a 
difference  between  this  act  of  President  Polk  with  conquered 
California  and  the  act  of  President  McKinley  with  conquered 
Puerto  Rico),  and  to  impose  duties  on  imports  and  tonnage  as 
military  contributions  for  the  support  of  the  Government  and 


56 

of  the  army  which  had  the  conquest  in  possession.     Cross  vs. 
Harrison,  i6  Howard,  190. 

But  this  authority  given  by  President  Polk  in  1847  to  the 
military  commanders  of  California,  pende7iti  bello,  was  some- 
thing very  different  from  the  tariff  enactment  of  President 
McKinley  of  August  19,  1898,  seven  days  after  the  termination 
of  the  war. 

II. 

On  January  20th,  1899,  the  dateof  enactment  of  the  Amended 
Customs  Tariff  and  Regulations  for  ports  in  Puerto  Rico, 
things  were  in  exactly  the  same  condition  in  which  they  were 
on  the  19th  of  August,  1898,  when  the  Tariff  now  amended 
was  published. 

It  is  true  that  a  Treaty  of  Peace  was  made  and  signed  at 
Paris  on  December  loth,  1898,  and  that  under  Article  II  of  said 
treaty  Spain  ceded  Puerto  Rico  to  the  United  States.  But  it  is 
true  also  that  this  article  and  many  others,  if  not  all,  of  that 
instrument  are  affected  by  the  protest  of  the  Spanish  Commis- 
sioners attached  to  Protocol  No.  21  of  the  negotiations  which 
culminated  in  that  compact,— and  that  the  compact  itself  did 
not  become  valid,  as  far  as  the  United  States  are  concerned, 
until  ratified  by  the  President,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate,  and  proclaimed  as  law.  This  was  not  done  until 
April  nth,   1899. 

h\\  that  has  been  said  in  regard  to  the  Customs  Tariff  of 
August  19th,  1898,  is  applicable  to  the  Amended  Customs 
Tariff  of  January  20th,  1899. 

III. 

After  the  restoration  of  peace,  the  proclamation  of  the  treaty, 
and  the  restoration  of  friendly  relations  with  Spain,  President 
McKinley  ceased  to  have  authority  to  exercise  belligerent 
rights  in  Puerto  Rico  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  armies  of 
the  United  States. 

Puerto  Rico  having  become  an  integral  part  of  the  United 


=^7 

States  coiiUl  not  be  any  longer  submitted  to  the  exceptional 
authority  which  the  state  of  war,  and  only  the  state  of  war, 
confers  upon  the  President.  This  exceptional  authority  van- 
ishes entirely  as  soon  as  peace  is  established. 

In  addition  to  this  point,  the  force  of  which  seems  to  be  un- 
deniable, there  is  another  which  demands  attention. 

Can  the  President  of  the  United  States  do  anything  in  Puerto 
Rico,  in  the  name  of  the  United  States,  upon  no  other  founda- 
tion than  the  treaty  of  peace  ?  Can  he,  as  he  has  done,  legis- 
late on  customs,  on  marriage,  on  divorce,  etc..  etc.,  only  be- 
cause Puerto  Rico  was  ceded  by  Spain  to  the  Uuited  States  by 
the  treaty  proclaimed  on  April  nth,  1899?  Could  he,  even, 
accept  that  cession,  and  carry  on  the  provisions  of  the  treaty, 
without  special  authorization  by  Congress? 

Precedents  are  against  him  in  this  matter. 

It  may  be  that  we  are  now,  as  it  has  been  said,  better  and 
more  enlightened  than  our  fathers.  We  may  have  outgrown 
the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Con- 
stitution and  old  laws  of  this  country.  But  the  precedents  are 
there  and  cannot  be  expunged  from  the  record.  Louisiana 
and  Florida  were  ceded  by  their  respective  sovereigns  to  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  the  cessions  were  made  by 
treaties,  which  were  approved  by  the  Senate  and  proclaimed 
by  the  President.  But  the  President  did  not  think  himself 
authorized  to  take  possession  of  the  territories  ceded,  in  spite 
of  the  approval  of  the  Treaty  of  Cession,  until  authorized  to 
do  so  by  special  act  of  Congress.  See  the  Act  of  Congress  ap- 
proved October  31,  1803,  "enabling  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  take  possession  of  the  territories  ceded  by 
France  to  the  United  States  by  the  treaty  concluded  at  Paris 
on  the  30th  of  April  last,  and  for  the  temporary  government 
thereof,"  and  the  Act  of  Congress  approved  March  3d,  1831, 
by  which  the  President  of  tlie  United  vStates  was  "authorized 
to  take  possession  of  and  occupy  the  territories  of  East  and  West 
P'lorida  and  the  appendages  and  appurtenances  thereof." 


^8 

Where  is  the  Act  of  Congress  which  authorized  the  Presi- 
dent to  take  possession  of  Puerto  Rico  ? 

Suppose,  however,  that  such  an  authorization  was  not  neces- 
sary and  that  the  President  could  do  lawfully  with  Puerto 
Rico  what  his  predecessors  could  not  do  with  lyouisiaua  and 
Florida,  upon  what  ground  can  he  base  his  authority  to  exer- 
cise, in  times  of  peace,  legislative  jurisdiction  on  that  island? 

Since  when  has  the  legislative  power  of  the  United  States  of 
America  (and  Puerto  Rico  is  now  a  part  of  the  United  States 
of  America)  cease  to  be  exclusively  vested  in  Congress  ? 

Since  when  has  the  right  to  levy  taxes  and  customs  been 
vested  in  the  Executive  ? 

Article  ist,  section  8th,  clause  ist  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  of  America  gives  this  power  to  lay  and  collect 
taxes,  duties,  imposts  and  excises  not  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States  but  to  Congress.  And  as  the  same  article,  sec- 
tion and  clause  provide  that  all  duties,  imposts  and  excises 
shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  United  States,  the  conclusion 
is  unavoidable  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  has 
been  violated  by  laying  and  collecting  duties  in  Puerto  Rico 
which  are  not  the  same  duties  levied  and  collected  in  the 
United  States. 

And  as  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  (article  ist, 
section  9,  clause  6)  provides  that  no  vessel  bound  to  or  from 
one  State  be  obliged  to  pay  duties  in  another,  the  conclusion  is 
also  unavoidable  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  has 
been  violated  by  forcing  American  vessels  going  from  conti- 
nental American  territory  to  the  insular  American  territory 
of  Puerto  Rico  or  vice  versa  to  pay  customs  duties. 

Protective  tariffs  may  be  used,  if  used  at  all,  against  foreign 
countries,  not  against  sections  of  the  same  country.  If  one 
thing  more  than  another  has  contributed  to  the  rapid  and 
enormous  development  of  the  United  States,  that  thing  has 
been  the  absolute  freedom  of  commerce  among  States  and 
States  and  States  and  Territories. 


59 

IV. 

In  keeping  in  force  in  Puerto  Rico  the  Amended  Customs 
TariiT  of  January  20th,  1899,  and  its  subsequent  modifications 
the  President  has  deviated  from  the  principles  of  true  protec- 
tion, and  absolutely  ignored  the  traditional  aspirations  of  the 
Puerto  Rican  people. 

A  simple  glance  at  the  history  of  tlie  reciprocity  arrange- 
ments of  Mr.  Blaine  will  suffice  to  prove  this  assertion.  In  a 
pamphlet  which  had  immense  circulation  during  the  presi- 
dential campaign,  which  brought  Mr.  Harrison  to  the  Presi- 
dential chair,  there  is  a  letter  of  Mr.  Blaine  to  Senator  Frye, 
July  II,  1890,  where  he  said:  "I  do  not  doubt  that  in  many 
respects  the  tariff  bill  pending  in  the  Senate  (the  McKinley 
bill)  is  a  just  measure,  and  that  most  of  its  provisions  are  in 
accordance  with  the  wise  policy  of  protection.  But  there  is 
not  a  section  or  a  line  in  the  entire  bill  that  will  open  a  market 
for  another  bushel  of  wheat  or  another  barrel  of  pork." 

Mr.  Blaine  explained  his  ideas  of  reciprocity,  and  said  : 
"There  is  an  opportunity  where  the  farmer  maybe  benefitted. 
There  is  an  opportunity  for  a  Republican  congress  to  open  the 
markets  of  40,000,000  people  (the  Latin  people  of  America) 
to  the  products  of  American  farms.  Shall  we  seize  the  op- 
portunity, or  shall  we  throw  it  away  ?  " 

History  shows  that  it  was  not  thrown  away.  Mr.  Blaine 
carried  his  point,  and  the  amendment  which  allowed  Mr. 
Blaine's  plans  to  be  carried  out  was  adopted.  New  markets 
were  open  to  the  American  farms  and  factories. 

Why  is  that  opportunity  to  be  thrown  away  in  Puerto  Rico  ? 

Why  is  the  American  flour,  instead  of  being  admitted  in  the 
Puerto  Rican  ports  free  of  duty,  burdened  with  the  same  duty, 
one  dollar  per  100  kilog.,  which  it  paid  when  Puerto  Rico  was 
Spanish  and  the  Spanish  miller  had  to  be  protected? 

Why  are  American  meat  and  butter  and  beans  and  vegetaljles, 
when  taken  to  Puerto  Rico,  burdened  with  import  duties,  to 


6o 

the  detriment  both  of  the  American  farmer  and  the  Puerto 
Ricau  consumer  ? 

Can  it  be  doubted  for  a  moment  that  the  abolition  of  all 
duties  on  American  merchandise  imported  in  Puerto  Rico  would 
favor  the  American  farm  and  factory,  as  Mr.  Blaine  put  it,  and 
do  great  good  to  the  Puerto  Rican  people  ? 

And  why  not  to  admit  free  of  duty  in  the  United  States  the 
Puerto  Rican  sugar  and  all  other  Puerto  Rican  products  ? 

Has  it  not  been  proven  at  the  investigation  now  in  progress 
before  the  Industrial  Commission  about  trusts  that  the  scarcity 
of  Cuban  sugar,  due  to  the  Cuban  revolution,  has  compelled 
the  refiners  to  go  to  Austria  and  Germany  to  get  there  what 
they  needed  ?  Was  it  not  better  and  nearer  and  cheaper  (were 
it  not  for  the  duties)  to  go  and  get  it  in  Puerto  Rico?  * 

And  if  it  is  true  and  undeniable  that  with  free  trade  between 
Puerto  Rico  and  the  continental  portions  of  the  United  States  the 
trade  of  the  United  States  in  pork,  in  beef,  in  flour,  in  lumber, 
in  salt,  in  iron,  in  shoes,  in  calico,  in  furniture,  in  machinery 
and  in  thousands  of  other  American  articles  would  be  enlarged 
to  immense  proportions, — and  the  production  of  sugar,  coffee, 
tobacco,  cocoa,  etc. ,  in  Puerto  Rico  would  be  immensely  de- 
veloped, why  not  to  grant  it  at  once  ? 

Who  is  going  to  be  benefitted  by  the  establishment  of  a  cus- 
toms barrier  between  section  and  section  of  the  American 
Union  ? 

Gen.  Henry  said  in  his  interview  of  May  17.  1899  : 
"  The  Puerto  Ricans  are  anxious  for  a  territorial  form  of  gov- 
ernment ;  but  the  question  is  how  are  they  going  to  get  money 
if  the  customs  duties  are  wiped  out."  The  ex-Governor  of 
Puerto  Rico  fails  to  see  that    money  can  be  raised  in   many 


*See  the  t'istiiiiouy  of  Mr.  Jaines  H.  Post,  of  Brooklyn,  a  representa- 
tive of  the  Mullenhauer  Sugar  Company,  and  the  National  Sugar 
Company  of  New  York,  given  before  the  Industrial  Commission,  June 
16th,  1899. 


6\ 

other  ways  than  customs  duties; — that  in  England  custom 
houses  are  not  by  any  means  the  most  abundant  sources  to  get 
money, — and  that  the  Puerto  Rican  people  themselves  when 
they  asked  from  Spain  in  1867  the  abolition  of  the  custom 
houses  they  submitted  a  plan,  as  complete  and  satisfactory  as 
can  be,  for  the  raising  of  the  funds  which  are  necessary  for  the 
support  of  the  government. 

In  spite  of  all  statements  to  the  contrary,  the  fact  is  that  the 
Puerto  Rican  working  classes  are  in  destitution.  The  plan 
of  using  Army  rations  to  feed  the  people  was  at  first  resorted 
to.  Then  the  plan  was  improved  by  undertaking  the  con- 
struction of  roads  and  other  public  works  of  this  kind.  No 
reasonable  man  can  doubt  for  a  moment  that  the  very  same 
fact  that  the  government  has  to  invent  work  to  keep  the  peo- 
ple employed  is  the  best  possible  indication  that  the  people 
can  find  no  employment.  And  the  fact  that  a  farmer,  in  a 
tropical  climate,  with  a  soil  like  the  Puerto  Rican  soil,  can  find 
no  better  manner  of  escaping  starvation  than  go  to  build  roads 
under  the  military  direction  of  some  American  Army  ofllcer 
seems  to  be  complete  proof  that  something  very  wrong  exists 
in  Puerto  Rico. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Puerto  Rican  peasants  cannot  spend 
their  whole  life  in  building  roads.  Some  day  these  roads  will 
be  finished,  unless  the  military  engineers  who  are  conducting 
the  work  are  willing  to  undertake  a  Penelopian  system  ot  doing 
and  undoing,  so  as  to  perpetuate  the  situation. 

What  will  the  fanners  do  when  the  roads  are  finished  ? 

Would  it  not  be  better  for  them  and  for  the  United  States 
Government  also  to  leave  the  Puerto  Ricans  to  themselves,  and 
allow  them  to  attend  to  their  own  business,  and  extricate 
themselves  of  their  own  difficulties  by  their  own  means  and  ac- 
cording to  their  own  ideas  ?  Would  it  not  be  better  to  put 
down  the  barriers  which  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
has  unjustly  and  unnecessarily  built  around  the  trade  of  Puerto 
Rico? 


62 

William  R.  Corwine  of  the  Merchants'  Association  of  New 
York,  who  was  sent  to  Puerto  Rico  by  that  organization  for 
the  purpose  of  making  an  investigation  of  the  general  commer- 
cial conditions  in  that  island,  came  to  Washington  and  gave  a 
copy  of  his  report  to  President  McKinley,  who  granted  him  an 
audience  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  what  he  had  to  say  about 
the  general  conditions  in  Puerto  Rico. 

Mr.  Corwine  also  called  on  Mr.  Meiklejohu,  Assistant  Sec- 
retary of  War,  Secretary  Hay  and  Secretary  Gage,  and  had  an 
informal  talk  with  each  of  these  officials  upon  Puerto  Rico. 

Mr.  Corwine's  report  says  that  the  tariff  in  operation  in  the 
island  is  a  serious  bar  to  American  trade.     He  continues  : 

' '  The  change  from  Spanish  to  American  rule  has  not  thus 
far  benefitted  the  industries  of  the  island,  and  unless  something 
is  done  very  soon  to  relieve  the  situation,  the  trade  conditions 
of  the  island  will  become  very  serious  indeed.  W^hen  Spanish 
authority  ended  in  Puerto  Rico,  Spain,  naturally  enough, 
ceased  to  have  any  interest  in  that  island.  The  transfer  of 
the  island  to  the  United  States  has  not  yet  brought  to  it  any 
substitute  for  the  markets  for  that  portion  of  her  products 
which  she  lost  when  she  ceased  to  be  a  possession  of  Spain, 
and  the  present  state  of  the  island  is  worse  than  its  previous 
one.     I  refer  entirely  to  commercial  matters." 

The  sugar,  tobacco  and  coffee  crops  have  greatly  shrunk, 
throwing  many  out  of  employment.     The  report  concludes  : 

' '  If  free  trade  between  Puerto  Rico  and  the  United  States 
were  established  on  the  .same  ba.sis  as  there  is  free  trade  be- 
tween the  states  and  territories  of  the  United  States,  happiness 
would  prevail  on  the  island  and  an  impetus  would  be  given  to 
busine.ss  which  would  invite  American  capital,  backed  by 
American  brain  and  enterprise,  to  develop  the  island  in  many 
ways,  and  all  the  minor  sources  of  complaint  by  the  Puerto 
Ricans  growing  out  of  the  operations  of  the  tariff  laws  would 
vanish  immediately.  If  any  commercial  relief  is  to  be  afforded 
Puerto  Rico,  it  ought  to  be  afforded  quickly.  Tobacco  planting 
in  that  island  begins  in  October.  If  present  tariff  conditions 
which  shut  off  the  island's  market  for  tobacco  are  to  continue, 
the  crop,  which  this  year  is  only  one-third  of  the  normal,  is 
apt  to  contract  still  further.     This  will  add  to  the  already  large 


63 

number  of  unemployed  plantation  hands  and  will  still  further 
contract  the  purchasing  power  of  the  people. 

"The  people  of  intelligence  in  Puerto  Rico  feel  that  as  a 
part  of  the  United  States  the  island  is  entitled  to  the  same  free- 
dom of  trade  with  the  country  to  which  it  belongs  as  the  dif- 
ferent states  and  territories  enjoy  with  each  other.  The  .solu- 
tion of  the  difficulty  is  the  abolition  of  the  special  tariff  which 
has  been  provided  for  that  island." 

List  of  some  American  articles  which,  under  the  reciprocity 
arrangements  of  Mr.  Blaine  in  1891,  were  admitted  in  Puerto 
Rico  free  of  duties,  but  are  burdened  with  duties  in  the 
Amended  Customs  Tariff  for  Puerto  Rico  promulgated  by 
President  McKinley  on  January  20,  1899: 

1.  Marble,  jasper  and  alabaster,  natural  or  artificial,  in 
rough  or  in  pieces,  dressed,  squared  and  prepared  for  taking 
shape.  Free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Import  duty 
of  $0.50  per  100  kilograms  under  the  Amended  Tariff. 

2.  Other  stones,  natural  and  artificial,  free  under  the  reci- 
procity arrangements.  Duty  of  $0.50  and  $1.00  per  loo  kil., 
according  to  circumstances,  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

3.  Earthy  matters  employed  in  building  and  in  the  arts  and 
industry,  free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty  of 
$0.60  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

4.  Cement,  free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty 
of  $0  60  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

5.  Coal,  free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty  of 
$0.20  per  1,000  kil.  net,  under  the  Amended  Customs  TariiT. 

6.  Resin,  colophony,  pitch,  and  similar  products,  free  under 
the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty  of  $0.45  per  100  kil. 
under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

7.  Clay,  in  bricks,  tiles,  etc.,  free  under  Uie  reciprocity  ar- 
rangements. Duty  of  $0.30  and  $1.50,  according  to  circum- 
stances, under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

8.  Iron,  cast,  in  pigs,  free  under  the  reciprocity  arrange- 
ments. Duty  of  $0. 10  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs 
Tariff. 


64 

9-  Steel,  free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty  of 
$0.34  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff, 

ID.  Iron,  cast,  in  pipes,  beams,  rafters,  and  similar  articles 
for  the  construction  of  buildings  and  in  ordinary  manufactur- 
ing, free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty  from 
$0.50  to  $1.40,  according  to  circumstances,  per  100  kil.  under 
the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

11.  Iron,  wrought  in  bars,  rails  and  bars  of  all  kinds,  plates, 
beams,  rafters,  and  other  similar  articles  for  construction  of 
buildings,  free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty  of 
$0.80  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

12.  Steel,  do.,  do.,  free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements. 
Duty  of  $1.40  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

13.  Iron,  wrought,  in  wire,  nails,  screws,  nuts  and  pipes, 
free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty  from  $0. 15  up 
per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

14.  Steel,  do.,  do.,  free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements. 
Duty  of  $0.15  up  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs 
Tariff. 

15.  Iron,  wrought,  and  steel,  in  ordinary  manufactures,  and 
wire  cloth  unmanufactured,  free  under  the  reciprocity  arrange- 
ments. Duty  from  $0.05  to  $1.80  per  100  kil.,  according  to 
circumstances,  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

16.  Starch,  free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty 
of  $1.40  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

17.  Maizena,  and  all  other  alimentary  products  of  corn,  ex- 
cept corn  meal,  free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty 
of  $0.30  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

18.  Fresh  fruits,  apples,  etc.,  free  under  the  reciprocity  ar- 
rangements. Duty  of  ^0.36  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended 
Customs  Tariff. 

19.  Fruits,  dried  and  preserved.  Free  under  the  reciprocity 
arrangements.  Duty  of  $0.90  under  the  Amended  Customs 
Tariff. 

20.  Beans,  fresh  and  dried.     Free  under  the  reciprocity  ar- 


65 

rangements.     Duty  of  $0.66  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended 
Customs  Tariff. 

21.  Peas.  Free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty 
of  $0.66  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

22.  Onions.  Free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty 
of  $0.42  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

23.  Potatoes.  Free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements. 
Duty  of  $0.30  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

23.  Hay  and  straw  for  forage.  Free  under  the  reciprocity 
arrangements.  Duty  of  15  per  cent  ad  valorem  under  the 
Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

24.  Tan  bark.  Free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements. 
Duty  of  $0.25  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

25.  Tallow  and  other  animal  greases,  melted  or  crude,  un- 
manufactured. Free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements. 
Duty  of  $1.20  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

26.  Books  and  pamphlets,  printed,  bound  and  unbound. 
Free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty  of  $1.25  per 
100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

27.  Woods  of  all  kinds,  in  trunks,  or  logs,  joists,  rafters, 
planks,  beams,  boards  and  round  or  cylindric  masts,  although 
cut,  planed,  tongued  and  grooved,  including  flooring.  Free 
under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty  of  $4.75  to  $12.00 
under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

28.  Wooden  cooperage,  including  staves,  headings  and 
wooden  hoops.  Free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements. 
Duty  of  $0.80  on  the  staves  and  of  $0.36  on  the  wooden  hoops 
under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

29.  Woods,  ordinary,  manufactured  into  doors,  frames,  win- 
dows and  shutters,  without  paint  or  varnish,  and  wooden 
HOUSES,  unmounted,  without  paint  or  varnish.  Free  under 
reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty  of  $0.16  per  100  kil.  under 
the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

30.  Implements,  utensils  and  tools  for  agriculture,  the  arts 
and  mechanical  trades,  and  machines  and  apparatus,  agricul- 


66 

tural,  motive,  industrial  and  scientific,  of  all  classes  and  ma- 
terials, and  loose  pieces  for  the  same,  including  wagons,  carts, 
and  hand  carts  for  ordinary  roads  and  agriculture,  free  under 
the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Only  plows,  hoes,  hatchets, 
machetes,  and  cane  knives  for  agricultural  purposes  and  other 
implements  not  machinery  are  free  under  the  Amended  Customs 
Tariff.  All  others  are  subject  to  a  duty  either  of  $5.00  per  100 
kil.  in  some  cases,  or  of  10  per  cent  ad  valorem  in  some  other 
cases. 

31.  Meats  in  brine,  salted  and  smoked,  including  bacon, 
hams  and  meats  preserved  in  can,  in  lard,  or  by  extraction  of 
air.  Free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty  under 
the  Amended  Customs  Tariff  $1.25  on  beef,  $1.25  on  pork, 
$2.40  on  bacon  per  100  kil. 

32.  L,ard  and  butter.  Free  under  the  reciprocity  arrange- 
ments. Duty  of  $1.70  and  $4.20  respectively  per  100  kil.  under 
the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

33.  Hams.  Free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements.  Duty 
of  $3.30  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

34.  Meats  preserved  in  cans.  Free  under  the  reciprocity 
arrangements.  Duty  of  $3  00  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended 
Customs  Tariff. 

35.  Salmon  in  cans.  Free  under  the  reciprocity  arrange- 
ments. Duty  of  $5.00  per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Cus- 
toms Tariff. 

36.  Oats,  barley,  rye  and  buckwheat.  Free  under  the  reci- 
procity arrangements.  Duty  of  $0.24,  $0.30  and  $0.24  re- 
spectively per  100  kil.  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 

37.  Oat  meal.  Free  under  the  reciprocity  arrangements. 
Duty  of  $0.72  under  the  Amended  Customs  Tariff. 


67 

Note  No.  9. 

ON  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE   LEGISLATIVE 
COUNCIL. 

The  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  had  the  honor  to  ask  the 
President,  in  their  letter  of  the  19th  instant,  page  17  of  the 
present  pamphlet,  to  establish  in  Puerto  Rico  a  system  of  gov- 
ernment identical  to  the  one  he  recently  promised  the  Phili- 
pinos  for  their  own  archipelago,  that  is,  a  Civil  government, 
vested  in  a  Civil  Governor,  and  a  Legislative  Council.  To 
facilitate  the  consummation  of  this  plan  in  Puerto  Rico,  the 
Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  presented  an  alternative,  consist- 
ing of  the  idea  that  the  Executive  authority  should  be  vested, 
if  so  deemed  best,  as  it  is  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  a  tri- 
umvirate, since  in  that  way  one  of  the  Commissioners,  at  least, 
might  be  without  difficulty  a  native  Puerto  Rican. 

The  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  suggested  also  a  plan  for 
the  election  of  the  members  of  the  Legislative  Council:  but, 
subsequently,  they  have  been  advised  by  their  constituents 
that  the  plan  they  suggested  may  be  found  to  be  liable,  when 
put  in  operation,  to  serious  drawbacks. 

The  municipal  councils  of  the  island  have  been  con.stituted, 
almost  in  their  totality,  with  elements  belonging  to  only  one  of 
the  local  political  parties  which  divide  the  opinion  in  the 
island  ;  and  this  being  the  case,  if  the  election  of  the  members 
of  the  Legislative  Council  is  to  be  made,  as  suggested,  by  the 
Municipal  Board,  or  Ayuntamientos,  so  constituted,  the  risk 
will  be  run  that  only  one  shade  of  public  opinion  will  be  repre- 
sented in  that  Body. 

Puerto  Rican  newspapers  of  such  well-deserved  prominence 
as  "  La  Nueva  Era,''  "  La  Patria  "  and  "  La  EstrellaSolitaria  " 
have  expressed  their  apprehensions  in  this  respect.  ' '  La  Nueva 
Era  "  has  said  :  "  The  election  of  a  Legislative  Council  by  the 
Municipal  Board  is  subject  to  objections.  *  *  *  The  said 
Board  consists,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  of  people  belonging  all 


68 

of  them  to  one  political  party  (the  paper  means  the  pro-Spanish 
party  created  in  Puerto  Rico  by  the  Spanish  Premier,  Seiior 
Sagasta),  because  the  s^iggestions  7nade  by  General  Henry  to 
the  effect  that  all  opinions  should  be  equally  represented  were 
not  duly  followed.'' 

The  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners,  giving,  as  they  ought  to  do, 
respectful  consideration  to  all  proper  suggestions  coming  from 
their  constituents,  have  deemed  it  proper  to  set  them  forth  in 
this  note. 

In  view  of  the  statement  that  the  plan  of  Gen.  Henry  was 
not  followed,  it  might  be  good  that  instructions  should  be  sent 
to  the  new  Governor  of  the  island  to  the  effect  of  preventing 
the  Municipal  Boards  from  being  formed  of  individuals  belong- 
ing all  to  one  party,  thus  removing,  to  the  benefit  of  all  in 
Puerto  Rico,  such  a  baleful  source  of  irritation  and  discord. 


Note  No.  io. 

ON  THE  CREATION  OF  A  PUERTO  RICAN 

HALL  OF  RECORDS. 

Article  VIII  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace  between  the  United 
States  and  Spain,  concluded  at  Paris,  December  loth,  1898, 
and  proclaimed  at  Washington  April  nth,  1899,  reads  as  fol- 
lows : 

"The  aforesaid  relinquishment,  or  cession,  as  the  case  may 
be,  includes  all  documents  exclusively  referring  to  the  sover- 
eignty relinquished,  or  ceded,  that  may  exist  in  the  Archives 
of  the  Peninsula.  Where  any  document  in  such  Archives 
only  in  part  relate  to  said  sovereignty  a  copy  of  such  part  will 
be  furnished  whenever  it  shall  be  requested." 

In  view  of  this  provision  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners 
called  the  President's  attention  to  the  advisability  of  estab- 
lishing in  Puerto  Rico  a  Puerto  Rican  Hall  of  Records, 
where  the  documents  referred  to  and  others  should  be  properly 
preserved. 


6q 

Tlie  Puerto  Rican  Coniniissioners  arc  not  unaware  that  a 
matter  of  this  kind  properly  belongs  to  the  local  government 
of  Puerto  Rico,  when  established  upon  a  truly  American  base 
of  civil  autonomy,  but  they  feel,  nevertheless,  that  it  is  proper 
for  tliem,  even  at  this  stage  of  the  Puerto  Rican  case,  to  say 
something  about  it. 

The  intrinsic  importance  of  the  subject;  the  little  interest, 
if  any,  which  was  felt  for  the  proper  preservation  of  certain 
kinds  of  public  documents  during  the  Spanish  rule  in  Puerto 
Rico;  and  the  necessity  which  the  Treaty  of  Peace  imposes 
upon  the  Government  of  the  United  States  of  intervening  in 
the  delivery  by  the  Spanish  Government  of  all  documents  con- 
cerning the  sovereignty  of  Puerto  Rico  to  be  found  in  the  Span- 
ish archives,  seem  to  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  to  be  suffi- 
cient reasons  to  authorize  them  to  submit  at  once  this  point  to 
the  consideration  of  the  United  States  Government,  and  sug- 
gest that  proper  steps  should  now  be  taken  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Puerto  Rican  Hall  of  Records,  the  expenses  to  be 
incurred  thereby  to  be  properly  met  by  the  revenues  of  the 
island. 

The  documents  to  be  preserved  belong  to  two  classes,  namely: 
documents  now  scattered  throughout  Puerto  Rico,  and  docu- 
ments relating  to  Puerto  Rico,  either  wholly  or  in  part,  kept 
more  or  less  carelessly  in  the  Spanish  Archives. 

The  documents  belonging  to  the  first  class  are  to  be  found  in 
several  public  offices  at  the  capital  of  the  island,  as,  for  instance, 
the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Governor-General,  the  offices 
of  the  extinguished  Diputacion  Provincial,  the  office  of  the  In- 
tendant,  the  Superior  Court  or  Audiencia,  the  offices  of  the 
City  Council,  the  Bishop's  Palace,  etc.,  etc.  They  are  also  to 
be  found  in  the  rest  of  the  island  in  the  offices  of  the  respective 
City  Councils,  the  Parishes,  the  Custom  Houses,  and  all  other 
official  centers. 

Proper  care  was  never  taken  with  these  papers.  The  inter- 
est, if  any,  which  they  inspired  was  always  mediocre.     Many 


70 

of  them  which  were  kept  at  the  Clergymen's  House  at  Ponce 
were  destroyed  by  fire.  Some  others  kept  in  some  other  places 
were  damaged  and  often  lost  in  frequent  removals  from  a  build- 
ing to  another.  Some  others,  kept  against  the  provision  of 
the  law  in  frame  houses,  perished  by  fire.  In  a  great  number 
of  cases,  especially  in  the  archives  of  the  City  Councils  of  the 
island,  and  even  in  those  of  the  highest  centers  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  destructive  book  worm  of  the  tropics  and  other  in- 
sects were  given  full  liberty  as  well  as  ample  opportunities  to 
do  havoc.  Except  in  a  few  cases  no  keeper  of  archives  was 
appointed ;  and  when  he  was  appointed  his  work  became  re- 
duced in  general  to  only  filing  the  papers.  No  systematic 
arrangement,  no  classification,  not  even  a  proper  inventory  of 
the  papers  on  file,  was  ever  made. 

The  importance  of  these  documents,  and  the  interest  which 
must  be  felt  for  them,  to  the  benefit  of  the  present  as  well  as  of 
the  future  generations  of  the  Puerto  Rican  people,  do  not  need 
to  be  explained.  They  form  the  base  of  all  statistical  work. 
No  serious  study  of  the  development  of  the  Puerto  Rican  cities, 
of  the  good  or  bad  result  of  certain  laws,  of  the  criminality  of 
the  island,  or  of  other  social  and  political  matters,  can  ever  be 
made  without  them.  They  are  essential  for  the  proper  knowl- 
edge of  the  medical  topography,  and  of  the  ethnical  instrumen- 
talities which  have  caused  one  race  to  have  supremacy  over 
others,  thus  teaching  the  manner  to  solve  intelligently  the 
problems  of  immigration,  and  decide  with  perfect  knowledge 
of  the  case  what  measures  must  be  taken  to  promote  the  devel- 
opment of  one  race  or  check  that  of  another.  They  are  indeed 
so  important,  in  all  respects,  for  the  good  government  of  the 
country,  as  to  cause  all  good  Puerto  Ricans  to  look  at  them 
with  respect. 

It  is  necessary,  therefore,  that  all  these  documents  and  papers 
be  collected  together  and  kept  and  preserved  at  some  Central 
Hall  of  Records  and  Archives,  where  they  may  be  protected 
against  all  causes  of  destruction,  and  where  they,  after  being 


7' 

properly  classified  and  indexed,   may  be  easily  consulted  by 
the  student. 

As  to  the  documents  which  are  now  in  the  possession  of  the 
Spanish  Government,  and  which,  under  the  treaty,  are  to  be 
delivered  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  it  must  be 
said  from  the  outset  that  they  are  a  real  treasure.  The  Puerto 
Rican  Commissioners,  believing  as  they  do  that  man  does  not 
live  of  bread  alone,  consider  that  by  calling  the  attention  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  this  particular  feature 
of  the  treaty  of  peace,  they  do  something  conducive  to  promote 
the  intellectual  development  and  cultivation  of  the  people  whom 
they  have  the  honor  to  represent. 

The  Spanish  Archives  are  not  brilliant  for  the  manner  in 
which  they  are  kept.  Owing  to  the  frequent  disturbances 
which  have  occurred  in  Spain,  the  safety  of  the  papers  and 
documents  of  those  archives  has  often  been  endangered.  The 
case  is  on  record  that  when  Napoleon,  in  the  early  part  of  this 
century,  invaded  the  Spanish  territory,  the  archives  were  ran- 
.sacked  by  his  order  and  a  multitude  of  documents  were  carried 
to  France.  He  wanted  to  found  in  Paris  a  great  European 
Hall  of  Records,  and  the  rich  and  celebrated  Archives  of  Spain 
were  forced  to  contribute  to  the  success  of  his  gigantic  idea. 
In  addition  to  the  loss  of  the  papers  thus  taken  away,  the 
Spanish  Archives  were  then  subjected  to  outrages  of  other 
kinds.  It  is  well  known  that  the  soldiers  of  a  regiment  of 
French  cavalry,  quartered  at  Simancas,  at  the  same  building 
where  the  Archives  were  kept,  scattered  on  the  floor  of  the 
different  rooms  occupied  by  them  as  many  packages  of  papers 
and  files  of  documents  as  were  required  to  form  soft  beds  for 
themselves  and  their  horses. 

It  is  also  well  known  that  not  very  long  ago  files  of  exceed- 
ingly interesting  papers  were  found  in  some  barrels  filled  with 
rubbish  which  had  been  placed  in  the  moat  of  the  Castle  of 
Simancas,  and  that  in  the  house  of  a  lawyer  at  Valladolid  some 
other  documents  belonging  to  the  Archives  were  also  found. 


72 

Some  5'ears  after  the  surrender  of  Granada,  a  boy  of  that 
city  offered  for  sale  to  a  traveller  an  old  manuscript  paper  he 
could  not  read,  but  to  which  he  gave  some  importance.  The 
traveller  bought  it  for  five  dollars,  and  then  presented  it  to  the 
Government.  That  paper  was  the  original  instrument  of  the 
surrender  of  Granada,  signed  by  Queen  Isabella  and  the  Moor- 
ish King. 

A  multitude  of  documents  of  the  Archives  of  the  Indies  at 
Seville  have  been  lost  in  other  ways.  The  log  book  of  Colum- 
bus in  his  second  voyage  has  disappeared  from  there,  and  no 
man  knows  where  it  is  now.  In  spite  of  all  the  courtesies 
which  were  extended  by  Spain  to  Washington  Irving,  he  had 
to  encounter,  as  it  is  well  known,  the  greatest  difficulties  when 
visiting  the  Archives  in  search  of  documents  and  papers  for  the 
preparation  of  his  works.  Not  long  ago,  in  the  course  of  an 
interesting  historical  controversy  between  Spanish  Americanists 
and  Mr.  Harrisse,  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  of  America,  it 
was  found  out  that  certain  documents  which  would  have  de- 
cided the  point,  or  points,  in  dispute  had  disappeared  from  the 
Archives. 

The  documents  relating  to  America  which  are  to  be  found 
in  Spain  are  now  kept  either  at  the  Archives  of  the  Indies  in 
Seville,  the  Archives  of  Simancas  at  Valladolid,  the  King's 
Private  lyibrary,  the  Monastery  of  the  Escurial,  the  Academy 
of  History,  and  private  offices  and  libraries  of  Spanish  noble- 
men, who  have  been  ordered  repeatedly,  by  "command  of  the 
King,''  to  turn  these  papers  over  to  the  Government  officials, 
which  they  never  did.  A  large  and  interesting  collection  of 
papers  of  this  nature,  old  and  recent,  relating  to  the  coloniza- 
tion of  Puerto  Rico,  Cuba  and  the  Philippine  Islands,  can  be 
found  also  at  the  Colonial  Department  at  Madrid. 

If  Spain  complies  with  the  provisions  of  Article  VIII  of  the 
Treaty  of  Peace,  liberally  and  righteously,  a  real  treasure 
will  be  handed  by  her  to  the  United  States.  But  it  is  any  how 
in  the  interest  of  the  United  States  to  become  informed,  before 


73 

hand,  as  fully  as  possible,  of  the  nature  of  the  documents  which 
must  be  delivered  to  them,  and  of  the  places  wherein  they  are 
kept.  Many  of  these  documents  are  important  not  only  for 
the  islands  newl}'  acquired  or  controlled  by  the  United  States, 
but  for  the  United  States  themselves,  because  they  illustrate 
the  period  of  the  discovery  of  the  New  World.  It  is  to  be  ex- 
pected that  the  Washington  Government  should  entrust  the 
mission  of  getting  these  documents  to  persons  well  posted  as 
to  the  facts  of  the  conquest,  acquainted  with  the  Spanish 
archives  and  everything  relating  to  them,  and  fully  conversant 
with  the  Spanish  language. 

The  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  know  that  among  these 
papers  there  are  many  of  great  importance  for  Puerto  Rico. 
If  they  were  kept  at  Puerto  Rico  they  would  contribute  largely 
to  the  progress  of  the  country  in  an  intellectual  standpoint. 
They  are  needed  to  write  well  the  history  of  the  country,  to 
make  a  thorough  study  of  its  colonization  and  settlement,  to 
correct  errors  transmitted  without  opposition  from  generation 
to  generation,  to  teach  the  future  Puerto  Rican s  how  to  appre- 
ciate the  efforts  and  the  learning  of  the  Puerto  Ricans  now  liv- 
ing and  of  those  who  have  passed  away.  Puerto  Rico  must 
be  given  the  custody  of  all  the  papers,  whether  originals  or 
copies,  which  relate  to  it. 

Upon  these  grounds  the  petition  of  the  Puerto  Rican  Com- 
missioners to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  that  he  may 
be  pleased  to  cause  a  Hall  of  Records  to  be  established  in 
Puerto  Rico,  is  founded.  They  confidently  expect  that  their 
petition  will  not  be  disregarded. 


Bancroft 


74 

Note  No.   ii. 

ON  THE  POWERS  OF  THE  PRESIDENT. 

People  unfriendly  to  Puerto  Rico,  anxious  to  prolong,  if  not 
to  perpetuate,  the  abnormal  condition  of  things  which  now 
afflicts  Puerto  Rico,  express  their  astonishment  that  the  Puerto 
Rican  Commissioners,  and  with  them  the  Puerto  Rican  people 
without  distinction  of  rank  or  station  in  life,  should  be  asking 
the  President  what  they,  the  critics,  say  the  President  has  no 
power  to  give.  If  attention  is  to  be  paid  to  these  critics  the 
action  of  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  is  little  short  of 
madness,  and  is  founded  exclusively  on  their  ignorance  of  the 
Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States.  How  can  the 
President,  they  say,  grant  civil  government  to  Puerto  Rico? 
How  can  he  possibly  order  that  the  commercial  relations  be- 
tween Puerto  Rico  and  the  rest  of  the  United  States  should  be 
at  once  placed  upon  the  basis  of  absolute  free  trade  ?  All  of 
this,  they  contend,  belongs  to  Congress,  and  Congress  alone 
has  the  power  to  act  upon  these  matters. 

If  such  statements  were  correct,  the  position  of  the  President 
in  regard  to  Puerto  Rico  would  be  unjustifiable.  Grant,  for 
the  sake  of  the  argument,  that  he  has  no  power  to  appoint  a 
Civil  Governor  for  Puerto  Rico;  upon  what  ground  will  then 
be  based  his  authority  to  appoint,  as  he  had  done  not  less 
than  three  times,  a  Military  Governor  ? 

If  he  has  no  authority  to  do  what  he  is  asked  in  regard  to 
the  civil  administration  of  government  and  justice  in  the  island, 
upon  what  ground  has  he  based  his  authority  to  order  the 
municipal  legislation  of  the  island  to  be  amended,  to  create 
courts  of  justice,  to  establish  civil  marriage  and  divorce,  and 
to  introduce  the  numerous  "  reforms"  which  have  taken  place 
in  Puerto  Rico  during  the  last  nine  months  ? 

If  he  has  no  power  to  establish  free  trade  between  Puerto 
Rico  and  the  rest  of  the  United  States,  from  where  has  he  de- 
rived the  power  of  burdening  that  trade  with  customs  duties  ? 


75 

If  he  lias  no  power  to  deal  with  Puerto  Rico  and  the  Puerto 
Rican  people  to  their  benefit,  what  is  the  source  of  his  power 
to  deal  with  them  to  their  injury  ? 

But  there  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  The  arguments  of  the 
opponents  to  the  measures  which  the  Puerto  Rican  Commis- 
sioners have  been  constantly  urging  are  fallacious  and  whim- 
sical. 

Even  in  his  capacity  of  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  of  the  United  States,  the  President  can,  if  he  wishes, 
do  as  requested  by  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners. 

California  was  conquered  by  the  United  States  in  1846.  The 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  said:  "The  conquest  of 
Upper  California  by  the  arms  of  the  United  States  became 
COMPLETE  July  7,  1S46.''  (S^car?is  vs.  United  States,  6  Wall. 
589).  But  it  was  not  ceded  to  the  United  States  until  the  2nd 
of  February,  1848,  when  the  treaty  of  peace  between  the  United 
States  and  Mexico  was  signed  at  Guadalupe  Hidalgo.  It  was 
admitted  as  a  State  into  the  American  Union  on  September 
9th,  1850. 

During  the  interval  between  July  7,  1846,  the  date  of  the 
completion  of  the  conquest,  and  the  2nd  of  February,  1848, 
the  date  of  the  cession,  California  was  militarily  occupied  by 
the  United  States,  and  subject  to  the  authority  of  the  President 
as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United 
States;  — and  this  was  very  natural,  and  very  proper  too,  be- 
cause during  that  period  there  was  a  state  of  war  between 
the  United  States  and  Mexico. 

And  what  was,  nevertheless,  the  first  act  of  President  Polk 
as  such  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the 
United  States  in  regard  to  conquered  California  }  What  did 
he  order  his  military  and  naval  subordinates  in  that  section  of 
the  country,  namely,  the  military  and  naval  commanders  of 
the  American  forces  in  California,  to  do  without  delay  ? 

Look  at  the  official  records  and  they  will  answer. 

President  Polk  ordered  his  military  and  naval  subordinates 


76 

' '  to  exercise  the  belligerent  rights  of  a  conqueror  and  to  form 
A  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT  for  the  Conquered  country.''  {Cross  vs. 
Harrison,  i6  Howard,  190). 

What  can  prevent  President  McKinley  from  ordering  the 
same  thing  to  the  military  ofiiers  in  command  of  Puerto  Rico  ? 

Are  now  the  Puerto  Ricans  less  apt  for  civil  government 
than  were  the  Mexicans  in  1847  ? 

But  there  is  something  still  more  to  the  point  in  this  case. 

Read  with  care  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  in  the  case  above  cited  {Cross  vs.  HarrisoJi,  16 
Howard,  190)  and  you  will  find  that  Justice  Curtis,  who  deliv- 
ered the  opinion  of  the  Court,  thought  it  proper  to  quote  in 
full  the  dispatch  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  Secretary  of  State,  of  Oc- 
tober 7th,  1848,  to  Mr,  Voorhees. 

Carefully  read  this  dispatch  and  you  will  see,  as  Justice  Cur- 
tis said,  what  was  '*  the  view  taken  by  the  Executive  branch 
of  the  Government  of  the  existing  condition  of  things  in  Cali- 
fornia,"— a  condition  absolutely  identical  to  the  present  condi- 
tion of  things  in  Puerto  Rico. 

"  *  *  the  condition  of  the  people  of  California  is  anom- 
alous. *  *  *  By  the  conclusion  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace 
THE  MILITARY  GOVERNMENT  which  was  established  over  them, 
under  the  laws  of  war  as  recognized  by  the  practice  of  all 
civilized  nations,  has  ceased  to  derive  its  authority 
FROM  this  source  OF  POWER.''  (Why  is  it  that  the  military 
government  ceased  in  California  ipso  facto  by  the  treaty  of 
peace,  and  continues  nevertheless  to  exist  in  Puerto  Rico  in 
spite  of  the  treaty  of  peace  ?) 

Mr.  Buchanan  then  explained  that  after  this  cessation  of  the 
military  government,  California  had  to  have  some  government 
until  Congress  should  finally  act.  But  he  added  that  this 
government  could  not  ' '  of  course  exercise  any  power  incon- 
sistent with  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  which  is  the  supreme  law  of  the  laud.  For  this  reaso?i 
NO  import  duties  can  be  levied  in  California  on  ar- 


77 

ticles  the  growth,  troduck,  or  manufacture  of  the 
United  States,  and  no  such  duties  can  be  imposed  in 

ANY    other    part   OF   OUR    UnION    ON    THE    PRODUCTIONS    OF 

California." 

And  why  is  it  that  articles  grown,  produced  and  manufac- 
tured in  the  United  States  could  not  be  burdened  with  cus- 
toms DUTIES  in  California,  and  no  productions  of  California 
could  be  burdened  with  such  duties  in  the  United  States,  be- 
cause by  the  treaty  of  cession  California  had  become  a  part  of 
the  United  States, — and  articles  produced,  grown  or  manufac- 
tured in  the  United  States  can  be,  and  are,  burdened  with 
customs  duties  in  Puerto  Rico,  and  Puerto  Rican  productions 
can  be,  and  are,  also  burdened  in  the  United  States,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  Puerto  Rico,  by  the  treaty  of  peace,  has 
become  a  part  of  the  United  States? 

How  is  it  that  the  constitutional  view  of  the  subject,  officially 
expressed  bj^the  Executive  branch  of  this  Government,  results 
in  contradiction  with  itself,  and  proclaims  one  thing  in  1848  as 
the  indubitable  law  of  the  land,  when  the  head  of  the  Govern- 
ment was  Mr.  James  Polk,  and  a  thing  diametically  opposed  in 
1898  and  1899,  when  the  head  of  the  Government  is  Mr.  Wil- 
liam McKinley  ? 

Is  the  Government  of  the  United  States  a  government  of 
persons  subject  to  the  individual  opinions  of  the  officials  who 
happen  to  be  at  its  head,  or  a  government  of  laws  and  principles 
eternal  and  unchangeable,  far  above  individual  opinions  ? 

The  critics  of  the  Puerto  Rican  Commissioners  will  do  well 
to  study  this  matter,  and  if  they  do  it,  they  will  be  satisfied 
that  the  President  has,  not  only  the  power,  but  the  constitu- 
tional duty,  as  explained  by  Mr.  Buchanan  on  October  7th, 
1848,  to  undo  all  that  has  been  done  uncoiiStitutionally  in  the 
Island  of  Puerto  Rico  after  the  treaty  of  peace,  which  made 
that  island  a  part  and  parcel  of  the  American  Territory. 


